


Time only knows

by Serenite1992



Category: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010), Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Crossover, F/F, Love/Hate, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-10-19 08:31:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 29,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10636167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serenite1992/pseuds/Serenite1992
Summary: Betty's mission was simple: to kill Hiram Lodge, the Maharaja of Riverdale, and Clifford Blossom, the Vizier, both responsible for the murder of her sister Polly years ago. Everything was going according to the plan when Clifford Blossom entered the ballroom, along with an army, and brought a giant hourglass as a gift for his wedding with Veronica Lodge (the Maharaja's unique daughter).Mission aborted; Betty tried to escape the castle without being seen.  As she did so, she stole the Lodge's most precious treasure: a mysterious dagger. How was she supposed to know this simple action would change her life and bring the apocalypse on Riverdale's lands? And how was she supposed to survive in this mess when she is stucked with Veronica Lodge, the girl she hated the most in this world?





	1. Betty Cooper

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! I am New to Ao3 and as a fanfiction writer.
> 
> First of all I apologize in advance for my mistakes! I can’t tell you how many times I re-read the first chapter to correct them but, as you will see, English isn’t my first language. 
> 
> Secondly, I got this idea while I was running outside (finally snow melted down in Quebec! YEAH). So I was running when “Time only knows” started to play in my old Ipod. This is when this story came into my mind. Moreover I don’t think there is another crossover between Riverdale and Prince of Persia for the moment so I take my chance. 
> 
> Thirdly, I borrowed the concept of Prince of Persia but I will not necessarely follow the game’s plot. Some parts will be similar but I will mostly invent the rest (because I don’t remember all the details of the game and because I don’t have the time to watch it on youtube unfortunately). 
> 
> Finally I am not really familiar with terms like Vizier and Maharaja so I apologize if I misused them sometimes (for example I know Maharaja are not Brazilian but for the story I'll make them). Be open mind and enjoy!

“Hey you! Stop right there!” yelled a guard, covered in his grey armour, as he was ungraciously sprinting through a crowed street. He seemed to be chasing a petite figure, which was way too far in front of him to be within his reach. The figure was running through the people, dodging every one of them as if this was the easiest thing in the world. As for the guard, it was another story : “Get out of my way!” He roughly pushed an elderly couple, which fell on the ground. The guard never stop his chase to excuse himself.

The black silhouette took out a knife from its waistband than threw it to the right, near a big cage containing a dozen of birds. A _Clic_ resonated, the door opened and the birds hurriedly got out, panicking, flying and running everywhere. Soon enough, lost feathers were flying everywhere, obstructing the guard’s view. The distraction wouldn’t last very long, but it would be enough for the cloaked figure to find an escape. Rapidly, it scanned its surrounding, taking a deep breath, then jumped on the first table within its reach.

“What the fuck?!” screamed the merchant as its fruits were pushed away and fell on the dusty ground.

Jumping again, the runaway hung on a window before climbing the wall to reach the roof of the building. A moment later, the silhouette was laying on the old wood constituting the roof. Its chest was raising and falling rapidly because of the sprint. The person took its hand and pulled off the cloth covering her mouth. The person took a deep breath and let the fresh air filled her lungs.

“Damn, this guard was persistent” said the cloaked figure to no one in particular with a soft and feminine voice. The woman brought a hand in front of her face to hide her greened eyes from the sun. She closed her eyes one moment to steady her heartbeats.

“Dammit! Where is he?” came a remark from below.

The woman crouched behind the fences on the roof and stealthy looked down. She saw two guards crowed together and, from the look on their face, they seemed really pissed off. 

“I don’t know. He was in front of me a second ago then he disappeared!”

“What do you mean he disappeared?”

The woman on the roof rolled her eyes “ _Why does everybody always assumed I’m a man when I kick their asses”_.  

“Hey! That man over there told me he saw the fugitive jumping on his table then escalating this building up to its roof” said a tierce guard as it pointed in her direction.

“I’ll go! You two, stay here and wait for him. If this guy comes down, get him. Am I clear?” ordered the guard who was chasing her, his dark skin glistering with sweats. The other two nodded at him before he disappeared through the door.  The other two blocked the other doors to prevent any escape.  

 “Looks like this little break is already over” mumbled the cloaked figure with a sigh as it gets up and put its mask back on. The woman sprinted then jumped fluidly from one roof to another without making any sounds.

  

* * *

 

 “ELIZABETH COOPER!” These words resonated in the tavern as soon as the cloaked figure closed the door. 

“Dammit” whispered Elizabeth as she yanked her black hood and her mask away from her face. She freed her blond hair from its ponytail and shook her head. “Hey mom” she said nonchalantly.

“Don’t you DARE to _Hey mom_ me, young girl” reprimanded a woman with shorts wavy blond hair and hard blue eyes. She stopped right in front of her daughter and glared at her “What were you doing inside these walls again when you know it’s a forbidden area for the moment?”

“Ha… C’mon mom, everything is fine” said Elizabeth as she took off her black gloves and rolled her eyes. Seriously, her mom could be such a drama queen sometimes.

“Fine? I don’t see how alerting almost every guards near the castle is fine to you”

Elizabeth snorted “It was just three guards, relax.”

“Still it was three too many. Don’t you understand Betty? We planned all of this five years ago. We can’t let you make a mistake. It isn’t just about you Betty, it’s about everyone involve in this plan.” The woman’s eyes softened as sadness filled them. “One single mistake can expose our plan and we will fail our mission... Fail our people… Fail P-“

“Polly” finished Betty as her gaze shifted to her side.

The older woman nodded slowly. Betty clenched her fists as a wave of rage consumed her body just like whenever Polly’s name was brought in the conversation. Betty’s mother looked down when a drop of blood touched the ground. Gently, she put her hand on her daughter’s fists.

“Betty, keep that rage inside you like we taught you. Soon enough you will be able to release it on that Vizier who goes by the name of Blossom.”

Betty lightly bowed her head but her fists never loosened.

“Alice, Hall wants to see you in his office.” Came another voice to their left.

Alice nodded in its direction then looked back at her daughter. “If I hear you went through these walls again before _The_ day, I can assure you I will lock you up in the dungeon until we came back from killing the Maharaja Lodge and its Vizier Blossom. You will not have the honour to see the despair in Hiram’s eyes as we will kill  his _lovely_ wife, Hermione, and their unique daughter, Veronica.”

Alice dropped her cloth on the table near them “And now wash your hands, we wouldn’t want you to put blood on every furniture here.”

Betty stayed silent but Alice knew she was listening. After all, they had raised their daughter to shut up and to obey them. They raised her to become an assassin just like them. They raised her to avenge Polly’s death by the hands of the Blossoms and the Lodge.

“Oh and Betty? As a punishment, you will be the one in charge of cleaning all the weapons. I want them to shine as if they were new, even if it takes you all night long.”

 The door closed, concluding this ( _pleasant?_ ) mother-daughter conversation.

Betty let out the breath she was unconsciously holding back and unfolded her fists, cleaning them with her mother’s cloth and a little bit of the alcohol from a bottle on the table. She briefly closed her eyes as she felt the tingling sensation in her hands. Sadly, the sensation didn’t last long and didn’t hurt enough to please her. “ _Feeling pain is a proof you’re still alive, Betty,_ ” Polly’s voice resonated in her head. She had told her these words when little Elizabeth Cooper tripped on a branch and scrapped her knees. She remembered how she cried, how the boys made fun of her, calling her a “crybaby’. This moment became the first time she clenched her fists and bit her tongue to stop the tears from falling. She didn’t want to be weak; she didn’t want to be a crybaby. That’s when Polly wrapped her arms over her shoulders and told her it was ok to get hurt and to cry….This was the reason why, after Polly disappeared, Betty started to seek comfort in pain. Pain was a reminder she was still alive… However, with years of getting hardened by her parents, pain was becoming less and less intense. This was what her parents wanted after all, to create a killing machine which didn’t feel the pain. However, as the pain was disappearing from her life, she realised she was also starting to feel less and less human… Less and less alive…

“You sure know how to piss off your mom, Betty”

The voice behind her immediately brought a smile on her face.

“Juggie!” she spun around and hugged the black haired boy. “Damn I missed you”

“More like you missed me saving your ass from getting caught by Mama Cooper.”  Betty hit him on the shoulder.  “So, what were you doing near that damn castle as you perfectly know it is off limits right now because papa Cooper doesn’t want to raise any suspicion?”

Betty dropped on the nearest chair and put her foot on the table. She grabbed the bottle of alcohol and drank a generous amount of liquid. “I was walking _outside_ the walls but I heard a woman screaming at the top of her lungs on the other side. I escalated the nearest wall then I saw this guard with dark hair and dark skin trying to rip her clothes off. I couldn’t stay there and do nothing Juggie.”

Jughead took place on the other side of the table. He reached forward to grab the bottle from the blonde’s hands, ignoring her whimper. “Interesting… Please continue”.

“Well as I was making my way behind this dude to kick his asses, the woman saw me and begged me to help her. Not the wisest woman on earth I can tell you. This alerted the guard who dodged my kick before I could hit him.”

“Why didn’t you just kill him,” He gave back the alcohol to his friend who was requiring it with her right hand.

“Because Juggie, if I killed this guard, it would have raise suspicion among everyone in the castle.”

“Ha yes, because having five guards running and screaming after you in a crowed street is much stealthier.”

“Oh shut up, it was mostly three guards, not five. However, the guard I am talking about had the red Maple leaf symbol on his chest. That’s why I couldn’t stab him even if I wanted to.”

Jughead’s eyes widened and he put his elbows on the table to lean closer. “Shit Betty,” He scanned the area to ensure himself that nobody was listening. “You know your mother could actually kill you if she finds out you almost got caught by one of the Maharajah’s personal guard.”

“First of all I didn’t _almost_ get caught. This Clayton guard was way too slow to catch me. Secondly, I didn’t know it was him before I got close to him.” Betty as she crossed her arms. “Anyway, red Maple leaf crest or not, I regret nothing. That douche thinks he can do anything he wants just because he is on the royal guard.”

“Damn Betty…”

The blonde girl only shrugged then took another ship from the bottle. She winced when the liquid got through her throat. She disliked that cheap alcohol but she loved the feeling it was raising within her. The feeling of losing control as her body acted of its own. If she couldn’t control her body than nobody else, not even her parents, could do it. That was the closest thing she was getting to freedom these days.

“Anyway, how did your meeting go with that ginger Judas today?”

Jughead stepped back in his chair and passed a hand through his dark hair, getting them even messier than they already were.

“Not… Not as good as I wish it would be.”

Betty lifted her head toward the roof and laughed bitterly. “Andrews isn’t the little boy we used to hang out with Juggie. He clearly showed us where its loyalty belongs. He left us so he could live with one of the healthiest man on this planet while we must hide and fight to survive. He chose to serve them instead of staying here, with us, and fight for a better future.”

Even if Betty’s voice was full of venom, Jughead knew the reason she wasn’t looking into his eyes right now was to hide her sadness as she was thinking about Archie.

“He was there Juggie when your father was executed. He was there but he did nothing. He left you when you needed him the most.” Betty took a deep breath and finished the bottle, feeling her head spinning lightly. “He left me alone when Polly was kidnapped and killed years ago. He left me when my parents wanted so much to avenge their first daughter that they trained their second to become an assassin… They never cared about what I wanted or even if I got hurt or if I died… Andrews left me for Hiram Lodge. He left me for –“

(Silence…)

“Her… _”_ finished Jughead when his friend stayed silent.

When Betty looked back at him, Jughead knew _she_ took over. What he meant was that Betty was still there physically, but the Betty in front of him wasn’t her friend anymore. No, this Betty was what he called _Dark Betty._ If her friend could be scary when she was fighting (she could be ruthless when they were on missions), it was nothing compare to this so called Dark Betty. Jughead remembered when this personality first showed up. It was when she found Polly’s lifeless body.

 

  

 

> \------- Flash back -------

_“Betty wait! The tree is too far away!” Worried a fifteen years old redhead boy as he spoke toward the roof of an old abandoned church._

_“Don’t worry Archie, I know I can do it,” Blonde hair popped from the railing and the girl did a thumb up to prove her point. A carefree laugh from the blonde followed._

_“Please Betty, climb down. Jughead was joking when he made this stupid bet with you,” Archie turned around and glared at the boy who was lazily laying down on the grass. “Jug, say something dammit.”_

_The dark haired boy lifted his holed beanie from his face and glanced at his friend then at roof. He shrugged before he put his accessory back on his face to shield it from the sun. “She’s a grown up girl Archie. She can do it if she wants to.”_

_“I swear to God I’ll kill you if she gets hurt. Best friend or not, I am –“_

_“HERE I COME!” screamed Betty._

_Archie turned around and caught a glimpse of a shadow sprinting toward the edge of the old building. When Betty reached the end of the roof, she jumped without hesitation. Everything happened in slow motion in Archie’s eyes. The moment Betty jumped; he knew she wasn’t high enough to reach the branch she was aiming for. He watched as the massive branch hit the girl right in the chest, taking her breath away._

_Betty grabbed the first thing she could reach when her body slipped downward.  The sound of wood cracking resonated when the branch wasn’t strong enough to support her weight. She heard her two friends screaming her name, saw the ground getting nearer and felt pain when her body collided with the grass._

_“Shit, shit, shit!” Betty recognized Archie’s voice._

_She felt two hands grabbing her cheeks gently. “Betty? Shit, wake up.”_

_For a moment, only the twitters of the birds were audible. Then a laugh filled the silence as the blonde girl was shaking lightly. Beautiful greened eyes appeared as the girl turned her head towards the dark haired boy. “I told you I could do it.”_

_“Well, technically, you failed,” he said with a relieved smiled, “But I guess you deserve that bag of fruity pebbles even if I will never understand why you love them so much”. (Fruity pebbles were a kind of cereals introduced in Riverdale’s kingdom a couple of years ago. It wasn’t as popular as the merchants thought it would be but it soon became Betty’s guilty pleasure. That girl could kill, hypothetically, to get some.)_

_“Yes!” She victoriously threw her fist in the air._

_“You’re crazy Betty Cooper” said Archie as he lightly knocked his forehead against Betty’s._

_“Then you’re crazy too if you love me,” She smirked before she closed the gap between them and kissed him._

_“Seriously guys, you’re both disgusting.”_

_“You’re just jealous Juggie” mocked Betty as she accepted Archie’s hand to get up. She brushed the dirt off her clothes._

_“Sure” Jughead rolled his eyes._

_The three laughed as they headed back to the village. They were talking about Jughead’s dad new job as a blacksmith and Betty was animatedly describing them the sword she would ask him to craft for her when she would get the money. Archie was about to say something to Jughead when they saw a couple of villagers crowed together. Curious, they approached the circle, pushing people to make it to its center._

_“Betty wait! Don’t go!” warned a boy with short brown hair that Betty recognized as Kevin Keller. She didn’t listen._

_She regretted it as soon as recognized her. This is when her world collapsed. In front of her was laying Polly’s lifeless body, drenched in her own blood. Her eyes were still open and were looking right back at Betty. However, they were emptied and stoic._

_“This is what awaits everyone who goes against the law!” warned a guard before he cut the rope binding Polly’s feet to the saddle of his horse. “Let it serve as a lesson.” The guard spit on the corpse then left without another word._

_Betty heard her friends calling her name over and over again but their voices seemed far away. She felt Archie pulling her in his arms as Jughead took off his shirt to cover the body. Betty felt people’s eyes on her, waiting for her next move. However, none came. She simply stayed still, staring at her sister. After thirty minutes, the crowd dissipated and people continued their tasks as if nothing happened. As if Polly’s wasn’t unfairly killed._

_“Betty?” whispered Archie when an hour passed. Polly’s body was still there, partially covered with Jughead’s shirt. It was just the two of them now._

_“I can’t… I can’t leave her Archie…” She sounded so weak. “I… I need to stay with her till my parents come back.” She extended her hand to reach her but stopped herself before she could touch her. She lightly curled her fist and retracted it. No, the last time she touched Polly with this hand she was alive and happily talking to her about her lover. She was alive not so long ago… She wanted to remember the warmth Polly’s body was sending to her hand and not the cold she would feel if she touched her now… Polly couldn’t be…_

_“Jughead went inside the walls to get them Betty. He will find them.” He crunched in front of her and gently lifted her chin. “Look at me Betty, you’re not alo –“_

_A voice interrupted him. “You owe me ten bucks dude. I told you this chix would get kill for loving the Vizier’s son.”_

_Another boy growled before he reached inside his pocket. “Here. And I can’t believe she was stupid enough to think she could ignore the law. Woman’s logic sometimes…”_

_Archie tensed next to her when the boys laughed. How could they said such hurtful things like that about somebody who was recently murdered? He was about to told them to shut up when her girlfriend beat him to it._

_“Shut up.” She murmured._

_The boys stopped walking and stared at them. “Excuse me?”_

_“Shut up!” She repeated, louder this time as her nails were digging inside the palms of her hands._

_The first boy nudged the other, “Dude, don’t mind her. It’s her sister.”_

_The two boys turned around and started to walk away. Archie turned towards Betty and sadness filled him as he saw the emptiness in her eyes. He was about to talk to her again when the voice of the boys reached them again._

_“She got what she deserved. I can’t believe –“_

_Before Archie knew it, Betty turned around and sprinted toward them. She tackled the taller boy on the ground then punched him repeatedly on his head with all her strength._

_“I TOLD YOU TO FUCKING SHUT UP” she yelled at the top of her lungs._

_She felt two arms grabbing her roughly and they lifted her from the ground. “Back off bitch!” said the second boy as he restrained her from moving. The taller boy got up, cleaned his mouth with the back of his hand and took a step forward._

_“Cunt. What the hell do you think you’re doing? I am going to –“ But Betty swung her body and kicked him right in the chest._

_The boy holding her lost its balance and they both fell on the ground. She easily freed herself from his grip and got on her feet. She grabbed a rock on the ground and lunched herself at the taller boy again, yelling._

_........._

_By the time Jughead came back with Betty’s parents, there weren’t one body on the ground but two. One was covered with his old shirt just like it was before he left while the other seemed to be a boy around their age but Jughead couldn’t identify him as his face was completely disfigured._

_Before Jughead could ask a question, he spotted Betty sitting near Polly. Her knees were folded against her chest and dry blood was covering her face as well as her clothes. Next to her stood a pale Archie who seemed lost and … Terrified?_

_"What happened while I was gone?" Without wasting another second, Jughead rushed toward them._

 

 ------- End of Flash back -------

 

When Alice and Hall discovered the darkness their daughter held inside of her, they took the opportunity and fed it with hate to ensure it never leave her. This new personality they found in the youngest Cooper would help them get their revenge and they knew it.

Jughead glanced at Betty. Her eyes were emptied from its light it normally held and only rage was filling them. The bottle in her hand cracked, getting the man’s attention. He saw how Betty’s hand was clutching it tightly; her knuckles were white and her hand was shaking but her face was emotionless.

“ _Her_ …” She spit through gritted teeth.

“Betty…”

The sound of broken glasses on the floor brought attention on them. Some people around them gasped as others simply shrugged it off and continued to drink. Blood was freely dripping on the ground from the wounds the broken glasses made into the blonde’s skin.  Jughead stood up and reached a hand to her when a frown appeared on her face.

“ _Veronica Lodge_ ” she said as her eyes dropped on her bloody hand. Unconsciously, she clenched her fist again and a jolt of pain irrupted from her wounded hand as she pushed the glasses even deeper in her hand.

She didn’t saw the sadness in Jughead’s eyes nor his worried glance when she smirked, her eyes glued on the red liquid getting out of her body. For the first time since Polly was snatched out of her life, she _felt it._ The pain was freeing adrenalin through her body, making her heartbeats rise from 60 to 180 in her chest, the alcohol was making her dizzy and the rage was boiling her blood. She felt it… The pain, the hurt, the rage, the feeling of being invincible when that Dark Betty’s voice was whispering into her head and the excitation of knowing the time to savour her revenge was getting nearer by the minutes… All these mixed emotions were making her feeling it again when she thought she couldn’t feel it anymore. For the first time since Polly and Archie disappeared from her life, she felt _alive_.

The Lodge will pay. All of them.


	2. Veronica Lodge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is chapter Two! 
> 
> I will be very busy for the next two weeks (8 exams). This is why I can't guarantee that another chapter will be published next weekend but I will do my best to do it. 
> 
> Enjoy!

“Archie” moaned Veronica between two kisses as she wrapped her legs around the man’s hips. She tilted her head back to give Archie a better access to kiss her neck.

“Veronica” he groaned.

Veronica knew he was reaching his climax as he was starting to mumble incomprehensible things and his trusts were becoming faster by the seconds. She could feel it too, her muscles tightening with each trusts of her lover. When Archie nibbled on a weak spot on her neck, she closed her eyes and let her hands lost themselves in his red hair.

Almost simultaneously, they screamed each other’s name as a wave of pleasure invaded their body simultaneously. The man with red hair, now covered with sweats, collapsed beside her before he took her lovingly in his arms. Tenderly, he dropped a kiss on her shoulder, his early beard tickling her skin. A smile made its way on her face as she opened her eyes.

Graciously, she turned around in the satin sheets of her bed and looked in his brown eyes, which were filled with love, passion and affection.  Smiling, she kissed the tip of his nose.

“I love you Archiekins”

“I – “ He kissed lovingly her instead.

However, before things got too hot again, Veronica put her hands on his chest and lightly pushed him away to create space between them. “As much as I love you and as much as I enjoy these activities” she pointed them successively:  “we must get dressed before somebody enters my room and saw you naked in bed with the Maharaja’s daughter”.

The man smile and kissed her one last time before he got up from the bed, showing proudly his naked body to the Latina girl who was covering her chest with her expensive sheets.

“So, do you know why your father wants to see you this afternoon?”

“Nope. Mom couldn’t tell me” said the Logde woman as she put a purple satin dress over her head.  Archie looked at her hungrily as the dress hugged her curves perfectly and showed a part of her right hips with its one side leg split. He shook his head when she caught him staring at her. He knew he needed to dress up. She raised a perfect eyebrow, her hands behind her neck as she finished adjusting her pearls necklace on herself.

 “I wonder – “ Footsteps from the other side of the door interrupted them.

“You need to go Archie.” Veronica lightly pushed the man towards the other side of her room.

Archie finished adjusting his belt and jogged on her balcony. “When will I see you again?” he whispered while he jumped over the fences and hung on it.

Veronica came up to him and took his face between her hands. “Meet me in the flowers garden tonight” She kissed him and watched him climbing down the vines. Just as he was nearly out of view, Veronica’s door opened. A handsome man with black and white hair entered, followed closely by an equally beautiful woman. The woman was an older version of Veronica with her long black hair, her beautiful curves and her dark eyes. Dark circles could be seen under her eyes, showing how tired she was. Her long white gown married her body perfectly and was trailing on the ground behind her.

“Mom. Dad. Thank you for knocking. It is always a pleasure to know my intimacy is one of your greatest priorities.” Sarcastically stated Veronica as she crossed her arms in front of her, annoyed.

“Sorry _Mija -- “_

“Enough Hermione” Cut the man before he turned towards his daughter who rolled her eyes in response “Veronica, as you know, we will hold a masked ball inside our castle tomorrow night. Almost every important man in these lands will be present.”

Veronica played with a strand of her hair and nodded absently. _“In other words: Another boring evening in view”._ However, when her eyes flicked to her mother and she saw the sorrow written on her face, a bad feeling spread through her entire body. She narrowed her eyes. Whatever her father was about to say wasn’t something that would please her.

“This is also the night where we will announce your wedding to our Vizier, Clifford Blossom.”

(Silence…)

“WHAT!?” screamed the youngest Logde with indignation as she unfolded her arms. “This must be a fucking joke right?” However, her father didn’t flinch. “Mom??” Her mother sadly shook her head and bowed her head. This must be a dream. “What? So you’re going to let your daughter getting married to a man who’s twice if not trice her age? You are going to let that … wrinkled and hideous man … marry me? Touch me? Fuck me? Isn’t it called pedophilia or something?”

“You are 22! You’re old enough to marry any man in this country. Moreover, you turned down every suitor we brought you since you were 18. It is time you take a man and fulfil your duty.”

“And of all the man you could chose to force me into a wedding, you chose a fucking antiquity which, I’m sure, must be older than this castle?!”

“Watch your language young woman!” Hiram raised his voice, taking a step toward his daughter.

“And you watch your daughter’s back for once and stop treating her like she’s just an object you can use to raise the amount of money you possess!” snapped Veronica as she pointed an accusing finger toward her father.

 As soon as the words left her mouth and she saw her father’s face tensed with rage, she closed her eyes and waited for the slap she knew was about to come.  Angry or not, right or not, daughter of the Maharaja or not, nobody could speak to Hiram Logde like this and get away with murder.

“Hiram, please.” Came the soft voice of her mother. “Let me talk to her.”

Hiram lowered his hand and Hermione thanked the god they were alone in the room right now. If it wasn’t the case, she knew her husband would not have listened to her. The Maharaja couldn’t show signs of weakness in front of his people.

“Fine, but she must know that she will marry that man whether she wants it or not. This isn’t negotiable.”

Veronica didn’t reopen her eyes when she heard her door getting roughly opened then closed.  She opened them when she felt two slim arms wrapping over her shoulders. Immediately, the youngest Lodge wrapped her arms around her mother and the two women fell on the ground. Tears fell down Veronica’s cheeks as she sobbed, broken.

“M-Mom… I don’t w-want to marry Clifford… I… I don’t love him… I don’t even _like_ him…”

Hermione took her face between her hands and wiped her tears with her thumbs. A single tear fell on her own cheek and died on her sad smile. Giving her only daughter to that old man didn’t please her but she didn’t have a word in this decision. Of course, she tried to dissuade Hiram from sealing this deal with Clifford but he didn’t listen.  

“I am so sorry _Mija_.”

“Please mom… I… I can’t…”

“I know you can’t Ronnie but you must.”

“But what… What will I…”

“You will learn to forget about that Andrews boy.”

Veronica opened her mouth, surprised.

“Haa Ronnie, did you really think I didn’t know about you and that red hair boy? I realised it one morning when I saw him climbing down the walls leading to your room.” She laughed a little when Veronica started to blush, knowing she was caught. “And it isn’t really safe to walk around with a hickey like this on your collarbone.”

Panic filled Veronica as she slapped a hand to cover it. If her mother knew that must mean her father also…

“Don’t worry _Mija_ , I didn’t tell him and I am pretty sure he is too preoccupied with his business to see what is happening in his daughter’s room.” She caressed her hair like she used to do when Veronica was young. “I am happy you could, at least for a moment, feel what it’s like to love and be love in return. However, you must end what you have with that boy.”

Fresh tears started to fall again.

“You must end what you have with him before it –“

Veronica closed her eyes as she interrupted her mother: “It is already breaking me mom.” Nobody would believe her if she said that being the Maharaja’s daughter was more of a curse than a privilege. Oh, what she would give to be someone else at this instant.

Hermione shook her head “I know it is breaking you right now but this isn’t what I wanted to say. I meant before it kills both of you. Just like it kills that peasant girl and Jason Blossom”

“Jason Blossom… As in Clifford Blossom’s son?”

Hermione nodded “Yes. At first Jason was supposed to be the one to ask for your hand. Your father and the Vizier had planned this wedding between the two families the day you were born.  However, things didn’t go as planned. You see, Jason fell in love with a peasant. And you know a peasant can’t love or marry a noble. But Jason and that girl didn’t care… They loved each other. They went against the law, against Jason father’s wishes, against your father’s wishes… They tried to escape these lands together but… Death is what awaited them in the end.”

Veronica looked horrified. “Y-You mean Clifford killed his own son? Because he didn’t want to marry a girl he didn’t love?”

“Sometimes business comes before love sweetie.”

“Is dad… Is dad responsible for Jason’s murder as well?” She must know the truth.

When Hermione turned her head to the side, Veronica knew the answer. So many emotions invaded her : panic, pain, sadness, anger, indignation, etc.

“Ronnie, I know your father made many mistakes in his life but there is goodness inside him. He loves you but sometimes being a ruler obliges you to put the kingdom before your family.”

“Sometimes I wish we were just some peasants. Sometimes I wish I was poor but free.”

Veronica leaned her head in her mother’s neck. She could feel it… Her heart beating hard against her chest, screaming, as it was slowly dying…  What could she do? She couldn’t go against her father wishes. She wasn’t crazy or braves enough to do so. But she also knew she couldn’t live without being by Archie’s side. He was her love, her safety place… He was her home…

“At least they were together… When Jason and that girl died…” whispered a broken heart Veronica.

Her mother wanted to tell her “ _Everything is going to be okay baby_ ” but she knew she would be lying. Nothing was Okay right now. Maybe nothing will ever be okay for her daughter anymore. Hermione tightened her grip around her daughter as other tears fell on her cheeks. She closed her eyes and laid her cheek on Veronica’s head. She could feel it too: her heart being shattered into pieces as she couldn’t do anything for Veronica, her baby. Her girl would live the rest of her life with a man she despised.  And Hermione couldn’t do anything to change that.


	3. The masked ball

Veronica brushed the tip of her fingers along Archie’s cheekbones, trying to memorise every details of her lover. The man stirred in his sleep before he unconsciously tightened his grip around her naked waist, pulling her closer. She immediately felt the warmth emanating from its body enveloping hers. The woman with dark hair laid her head back on her pillow but never looked away from the man beside her. She sighed as she thought about what happened earlier that evening.

 

\--- FlashBack---

_Veronica was sitting on her lunge chair on her balcony, enveloped in a warm fur cover and staring absently at the night sky. She knew she was supposed to meet Archie in the garden a long time ago but she couldn’t resign herself to face him and tell him that… That they couldn’t be together anymore because she would soon marry a perverted old man… A man willing to marry a woman who’s not older than his own daughter._

_“Dammit, her daughter isn’t older than me! How can he --” Oh, how she hated her father right now._

_“What am I gonna do ?” She brought her hands on her face as her eyes started to sting again. “Oh Archie…”_

_The sound of a broken vine followed by a curse caught her attention. Sniffing rapidly and drying her face of with her cover, Veronica went near the fence of her balcony. Glancing down, she recognized the man she loved, climbing her wall again just to see her._

_“Archie…”_

_The man looked up before he smiled “Hey Ronnie, fancy seeing you here”._

_Veronica helped him before glancing down to make sure nobody saw him. If it was any other night, she wouldn’t be worried about getting caught but, with the preparations for the ball, guards and servants were circulating in the castle 24 hours a day.  “What are you doing here?”_

_The man shook leaves off his shirt. “I waited for you at the flowers garden for nearly an hour but you never show – “ Veronica jumped in his arms._

_“Oh Archiekins…”_

_“Hey Ronnie” The redhead gently took her face between his hands before he frowned when he saw her red eyes. “What’s wrong Ronnie?” His thumbs gently rubbed her cheekbones._

_Veronica took a deep breath “Archie… My father… I…” She wanted so much to tell him how her father sold her like a slave to Clifford. She wanted so much to beg him to flee the castle with her, to flee these lands and to live together forever._

_“Archie I…” Need to talk to you were the words that were supposed to follow but they never left her mouth. The moment she saw his brown eyes glistening with love and his stupid yet charming smile, she couldn’t tell him. Heck, she didn’t even want to tell him these words!_

_“I love you!” She whispered the words before she kissed him passionately._

_Archie put his hands under her ass before he easily lifted her up. She circled his waist with her legs as Archie was slowly taking her to the bed…_

_\---End of Flashback---_

 

Veronica’s vision became blurry as news tears were threatening to fall. She closed her eyes tightly to prevent them to. Tomorrow she would speak to him. Tomorrow she would end their secret relationship even if it would probably kill her inside. Tomorrow morning she will do it. But for now, she would enjoy this moment of happiness with him.

 

* * *

 

              The day of the ball

* * *

 

 “ _Mirror sure is a strange invention from man”_ Thought Betty, staring intensely at her reflection in the mirror in front of her. She lightly turned her head to the side, inspecting cautiously her reflection doing the same thing, as if she was expecting it to do something else.   Gripping the edge of her old drawer, she leaned toward the glass, holding her breath and analyzing the movements of contraction and dilation her irises were doing as her vision was adjusting itself. “ _Eyes are the mirror to the soul,_ ” At least that’s what poets were constantly claiming in their works. If that was the case, maybe if she looked long enough she would see _it_. The darkness buried inside her.

“I know you’re in there” she whispered to no one in particular or maybe to that thing inside of her. However, she wasn’t sure if she was really expecting an answer or not. She released the air she was holding and blinked as a knock brought her out of her thoughts.

“Enter” She massaged the back of her neck with her hand.

Through the mirror, she saw Kevin’s silhouette entering her room with something in his hands before he closed the door behind him.

“Special delivery!” sing-songed the brown haired man, raising the clothes imprisoned between his arms.  He put it on the back of a chair, trotted toward her friend’s bed and slumped on it. “Dammit Betts, how can you actually sleep in this bed? Can we even call it a bed? I think a broke my coccyx just by sitting on it” He dramatically rubbed his back.

Betty rolled her eyes, dropping her old shirt, soon followed by her pants, on the floor and tried the clothes brought by her friend. “Shut up Kevin, not everybody has a rich boyfriend where we can have sleepover every time we want it to.” She buttoned up her jacket before she inspected herself in the mirror again. The navy blue jacket was a little bit too large for her shoulder (at least it will hide her curves) but the white shirt underneath seemed just about the right size. She looked down at her pants and reminded herself to roll the rims before she got to the castle if she didn’t want to get caught.

“So, what do you think?” she twirled around.

“Perfect,” whistled Kevin. “If it wasn’t for the fact that you have two extra things up there and one thing missing down there, I would actually consider dating you.”

The woman laughed before she took the knife on her drawer and hid it in a secret pocket in her right handle. It was a special request she had ask for and thankfully Kevin, the talented tailor he was, complied with it. She agitated her arm around to assure herself she wouldn’t get hurt when she’ll move later on, then palpated herself to be sure nobody would feel it.  

“However, I must say it’s a shame you must dress yourself as a man and prevent everyone from admiring your beauty,” sighed Kevin.

“Fighting in these dresses is impossible and you know it,” Betty observed herself in the mirror as she tied her hair in a low and loose ponytail (it was more boyish that way). “You’re still going to be there with Joaquin right?”

Kevin hummed in response.

“Learned anything knew from him?”

Kevin’s eyes suddenly sparkled “Well since you’re asking, last night, when we got home, he told me about these new handcuffs he got from a guard and, when we were in bed, he used it --”

“Anything knew for the mission Kevin. Jesus, keep you’re sexual life to yourself,” the blonde interrupted him with a disgusted face.

“You’re just jealous because you’ve been alone since forever. And by forever I mean a certain ginger boy.” The man laid down on his stomach and put his head between his hands. “When was the last time you got laid by the way?”

“Shut up Kevin. I am not talking about my sexual life with you.”

“Well, technically there is nothing to talk about anyway…” Kevin sighed “Why don’t you just take beanie boy and have a quickie with him? I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t say no and you’ll feel so good after! You’ll be less grumpy for a fact.”

“Leave Jughead alone. We’re just friends and nothing more. End of the story.”

“Pretty sure he wouldn’t say the same thing if I was having this discussion with him right now.”

“You’re helpless Kevin Keller.”

“And you’re sexually frustrated Betty Cooper. I’m pretty sure straight men are now able to smell your pheromones from miles away.” Kevin giggled when Betty showed him her middle finger before his face straightened. He sat up on the bed. “Seriously though, Joaquin caught a glimpse of a conversation between the Vizier and Weatherbee two days ago.”

“Weatherbee, as in the treasurer man for the Lodge family?”

Kevin nodded: “Apparently the Vizier is looking for some treasure hidden inside the castle.”

Betty dropped her hands at her side and looked at Kevin through the mirror. “What kind of treasure? And why have we never heard of it before?”

Kevin shrugged “They never mentioned it. Even Weatherbee didn’t seem to know where it was exactly. He told Clifford it must be hidden inside the Maharaja’s room itself or inside his daughter’s room since they are the two inaccessible parts in the castle. ”

“Hum… I wonder what it could be and why Weatherbee is talking about this with Clifford. I mean, if Hiram doesn’t want this thing to be known then why is Weatherbee telling Clifford about it?”

“I don’t know but Joaquin told me the Vizier is complotting something. He didn’t know what exactly since he is not close enough in his circle but he heard some rumours from others.”

“Anyway, who cares about some secrets jewelleries? They won’t be so important for the Lodge when we’ll kill them tonight.”

Silence filled the room and Kevin’s eyes softened “Are you ready? For tonight I mean.”

“I’ve wait 7 years for this moment Kevin” said Betty as she turned around so brown met green. “I am more than ready.” And she was. She could feel the adrenalin flowing in her blood vessels just at the thoughts of being inside the castle and near _them_ , waiting for the good time to strike.

The blond girl jumped slightly when she felt a hand softly squeezing her left shoulder. Kevin was now standing next to her.

“In that case, I think you’ll need this,” he handed her an equally blue and white mask. “And don’t worry; Joaquin will be the one to welcome the guests so he will let you in without all the check-up.”

Betty put the accessory on her face and turned toward the mirror, staring at her reflection again. The mask was covering the top of her face and the white color was making her greened eyes shined even more. The costume wasn’t as bad as she thought it would be. She will easily pass for a man (an effeminate man) tonight.

Kevin embraced her from behind and dropped his head on her shoulder.

“I’ll be there if things go bad Betts.”

Betty lightly squeezed his arm as she turned her head to the side and kissed his cheek.

“I know you will. Thank you.”

Tonight she was going to do it. She was going to avenge Polly.

* * *

 

 

Veronica checked herself through the mirror one last time. Her long white dress, making her skin looked even tanner than it already was, was beautifully marrying her body and was stopping just an inch before it reached the ground. Her black hairs were loosely falling on her shoulders and her red lipstick was making a great contrast with her outfit. She slowly caressed her necklace of pearls adorning her neck.

“ _I remember how much he liked this dress when he first saw me in it”_ thought Veronica as she glanced at the single white strap on her right shoulder as her left one was strapless.

Thinking about Archie made her heart sank. When she woke up this morning, her lover was already gone as the guards were called for an early meeting to get instructions for tonight’s celebration inside the castle. She had look everywhere for him, wanting to talk to him about what she was supposed to do the night before. However, her researches were interrupted by the maids, send by her father, who hurriedly pulled her to her bedroom to get her ready for the night.

A knocked made her jump slightly. Without turning around, she said “Yes?”

“You’re father sends me to get you milady,” answered a timid voice from the other side of her still closed door. “The guests are mostly all there.”

“Thank you, I will be there soon.” She clenched her necklace unconsciously.

“But milady –“

“I just need to finish my makeup and I’ll be there”

There was a short silence before she finally heard “Yes milady”. Footsteps echoed then silence filled the room.

Veronica closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Sadness filled her eyes but there was also a hint of determination in them. She thought about it all day since we woke up.

Tonight she was going to do it. She was going to tell Archie about the wedding and she was going to ask him to flee the castle with her.

* * *

 

 

Music was playing in the background as Betty entered the giant room. Sure, she hated the Lodge but _damn_ they sure knew how to decorate their castle. Everything was just so big and majestic and… Did she mention big? And Kevin wasn’t wrong when he told her mostly all the wealthiest men in these lands would attend this event. Betty adjusted the mask on her face then scanned the area, counting the guards and spotting her targets.

It didn’t take her long to find Hiram Logde, in all its glory, talking with three other men. “ _New business opportunities_ ,” thought the assassin before she turned her attention on Hermione and Veronica Lodge. The two seemed to be in an argument as they were whispering harshly, the younger Lodge with her arms crossed but uncrossing them when her mother hit them softly.

“ _Stop it Ronnie. Erase that scowl from your face and wear a smile for god sake”_ she read on Hermione’s lips.

“ _Can’t he just be happy with the fact I am actually here?”_

_“Please, can you refrain yourself from scaring off the guests and from making your father angry?”_

_“Fortunately dad proposed a masked ball so I have this mask to hide my real emotions.”_

_“Ronnie, this mask only covers the top of your face, not your mouth, so please behave. You know your father -- ”_

Betty scanned the room again, this family drama being uninteresting, and looked for a sign from the Vizier who didn’t seem to be anywhere. The girl frowned: “ _Where is he?”_ From the corner of her eyes, she caught a glimpse of her mother, disguised as a maid with her red dress, just like all the other maids were dressed. Even with her black mask covering almost all of her face, Betty recognized her signature frown behind it. She was also scanning the room, waiting for an opportunity to present itself to give the signal.

“And now ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Josie and the Pussycats who came from far away just to sing for us,” claimed Weatherbee as he bowed and stepped aside to let three beautiful women take a step forward.

Immediately the room became silent as one of the girl, Betty supposed it must be Josie, took a step forward and clear her throat. She lifted her arms above her head and started to swing her body. The other two, Melody and Valerie, followed her moves and hummed. Josie lowered her arms and started to sing:

 

_\-- Time, only by the time_

_Never will we know if our love is true_

_At night I sleep and dream of you_

_Only to awake in my empty room --_

Betty closed her eyes, overwhelmed by such a gorgeous voice. She heard people praising these three girls’ talent but she had never actually heard them. She now understood why they were so popular in Riverdale and elsewhere.

 

“I heard they once were slaves in their country,” whispered a voice to her right.

 

Glancing aside, she spotted Jughead’s jet black hair and his greenish-blue eyes hidden behind his black mask.

 

“Were they?”

 

Jughead nodded: “Rumours say they started a rebellion and they fought the humans who claimed themselves as their masters. Their name, Josie and the Pussycats, refers to Josie who was the leader to their freedom and Pussycats refers to how they had to fight their way to freedom.”

 

_\--You give me power_  
You give me reason   
So, will you love me?   
Time only knows, time only knows --

“Her voice is beautiful. Their voices are beautiful.”

 

“Indeed. Josie isn’t just singing. She’s putting her soul in her lyrics. She is telling us what they all have been through with these songs.”

 

Betty closed her eyes again, letting the song filled her heart with nostalgia.

 

_\--Time, and only by the time_  
Never will we know if our love is true   
At night I sleep and dream of you   
Only to awake in my empty room --

She reopened her eyes when she felt Jughead’s pinkie finger discreetly caressing her own. She released the breath she didn’t know she was holding. Just as discreetly as her friend, she linked their finger together. This was their way to comfort the other before the big move.

 

“You sure you’re okay Betty?”

 

“Yeah…”

 

“You know he is here.”

 

“I know Juggie.”

 

_\--So, will you love me?  
Time only knows, time only knows. --_

“Be careful Betty. You know I’ll always be there beside you.”

 

Before Elizabeth could reply, the song ended and everybody in the room, Hiram included, applauded.  The girl unhooked her finger and brought her arm back on her side.

 

“Get ready” she whispered to her friend who hummed in response before he retreated in the crowd.

 

* * *

 

Veronica was looking through the crowd, searching a certain redhead. And _no_ that redhead wasn’t Clifford Blossom. She rudely ignored the men who tried to speak to her, sometimes jumping lightly on her tiptoes just to see over people’s shoulders. She was also keeping an eye on her father to assure herself he wasn’t observing her being so rude to the others. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she finally spotted him, shining in his armour, talking to Chuck near the buffet.

 

“My father wishes for a man to inspect the west wing of the castle”, she ordered as she looked directly at Chuck.

 

“Why? Everybody is here. There is no point --”

 

“Are you questioning my father’s orders?” growled the Lodge girl and Clayton gulped before he ran off the room without another word.

 

“Archie”, started Veronica as she took a step toward him but stopped when she saw him raising his hand.

 

“Shh Veronica, not so loud.” He looked around him to see if people heard them. Fortunately, everyone was captivated by Josie’s song for the moment.  “Your father can’t see me talking to you.”

 

“Archie, can we meet in the garden please? I really need to talk to you.”

 

“I’m sorry but I can’t right now. I’m on duty.” He moved his hands in front of him to prove his point.

 

“Please Archie. It really can’t wait” she begged him because she knew she needed to tell him before he learnt it from somebody else.

 

Archie sighed “I’m sorry Ronnie but it’ll have to wait.” The redhead walked away after he gave her an apologizing look.

 

 Veronica faced the buffet and took some grapes in her hands, trying to appear busy and not let everyone see her hurt face.

 

* * *

 

 

Hiram Lodge excused himself and left the conversation he was having with four other men. He walked to his wife and possessively put an arm around her waist. 

 

“Where is Veronica?”

 

“Don’t worry, she is here.”

 

“She better be.” Growled the man before he turned his attention toward Josie and the Pussycats who finished their second song. Everyone either started cheering them or whistling at them.

 

Betty saw her mother nodding in Hiram’s direction before she dropped the plate she was holding on the table nearest her. Betty felt her heartbeats accelerating. This was it. They were going to hit. Looking back at the Maharaja, the blonde girl saw a silhouette she recognized as Reginald Mantle, one man from her clan, stealthily approaching Hiram from behind. Nobody was paying him any attention as they were all preoccupied at cheering the three girls bowing before them.

 

Betty slowly started to walk toward Hermione, ready to strike after Reggie’s move. She saw Reggie reaching in his pocket for something then he slowly took out a pocket knife.

 

_Badum… Badum… Badum-Badum-Badum…_

Betty could feel it, the adrenalin filling her veins and her arteries, nourishing her body. She reached for her knife too. Reggie pointed the blade in Hiram throat’s direction and he was about to hit when a loud _BANG_ resonated inside the room as the great doors suddenly opened. The Asian assassin froze, blade midair between his and Hiram’s body.

 

Betty twirled around and saw Clifford Blossom smiling arrogantly (as always) and entering the room alongside what seemed like fifty armed men. Betty narrowed her eyes and recognized the green snake adorning they heavily armour.

 

“ _What is Clifford doing with the Southside serpents?_ ” This clan were mercenaries which accepted any dirty job in exchange of a pretty good amount of money. 

 

Another batch of people entered the room, this time pulling something really huge, hidden under a red cover, in a chariot. Betty caught a glimpse of her mother signalling to Reggie to stop whatever he was doing.  The man immediately hid his blade and rapidly retreated behind the nearest pillar, deception clearly written on his face. He was so close!

 

“Hiram Lodge! My friend!” exclaimed Clifford Blossom walking proudly toward the Maharaja and his wife. “Pardon my lateness.” He bowed respectfully.

 

“Clifford, what is the meaning of this?” The room became silent the moment Hiram started to speak.

 

“Oh this?” Clifford twirled around, arms outstretched. “I brought you this gift to celebrate my wedding with your daughter, Veronica.”

 

Gasps were heard in the room, everyone was clearly surprised by the news. A wedding between Clifford and the heiress of the Lodge family? At the same moment, Clifford snapped his fingers and two people pulled the cover off the object. Gasps were heard again when everyone’s eyes focus on the gigantic hourglass filled with shining sands before them.

 

“I am proud to give you the Blossom’s most treasured object Hiram, my friend” Clifford smirked when he finished.

 

Hiram frowned and raised his hands : “Why are you entering my castle with all these men by your side?”

 

“I brought some of my men with me since I’ll be staying here for a long time from now on and since I heard some rumours about a possible attempt at murder on you, my friend. I thought you wouldn’t mind the support.”

 

“Attempt at murder?”

 

“These were only rumours but a little check-up on everyone by my men won’t hurt, don’t you think?”

 

“Indeed” conclude Hiram as three guards surrounded him and his wife.

 

“ _What the hell is happening?”_ Thought Betty as her mom made some signs with her hands to signal to her the mission was aborted.

 

* * *

 

“… for my wedding with your daughter, Veronica.”

 

Gasps could be heard in the room. Veronica suddenly felt nauseous and she felt the grape she just ate rising up in her oesophagus. She scanned frankly the room for Archie. She had to… no… She NEEDED to speak to him right now!  Dark brown met brown. Archie looked so confused and lost when Veronica saw him; she felt the bile rinsing up in her mouth. She ran away to her room.

 

 “Excuse me” murmured Veronica as she hardly bumped into someone in her haste to get out of there. She turned her head a fraction of a second and brown met green for the first time.

 

* * *

 

Betty’s heart skipped a beat when she saw Veronica’s face from this close. She hated the girl with all her heart (that was a fact) but she must admit people were right when they told her how beautiful the Lodge heiress was. Her eyes went on the girl’s painted red lips and her heart went on a rampage in her chest. _Anticipation_ , she tried to convince herself. Yes anticipation about the fact she would soon kill her and avenge Polly’s death was the reason her heart was being crazy right now.

However, before she could do anything, Veronica turned her back to her and continued her way towards the door leading to the courtyard.  Betty’s eyes never left her silhouette; green eyes following every movements of her body, every movements of her dress and every bounce of her jet hair.  Soon enough, the royal girl disappeared outside, only her lilac perfume lingering in the assassin’s nostrils.  A hand gripped her arm and tugged it rudely, snapping her out of her trance, her body losing its balance for a moment.

“Betty, we need to go, _right now_ ” harshly whispered Alice, clearly annoyed by the change of plans and by the fact her daughter was staying still instead of following her instructions like the others were doing.

“Elizabeth!” They needed to get out of here as soon as possible.

Green eyes flipped towards Alice before Betty nodded and discretely darted toward the exit, trying to stay under the guards and Clifford army’s radar. Just as the blondes women were about to cross the door, the younger one glanced back for Jughead or Kevin and see if they were OK too. This is when she recognized _him_. His red hair and his silhouette which were practically running toward the opposite door.

“ _Running away from you_ ” murmured a voice in her head. “ _Or running up to her?”_

Betty clenched her fists and closed her eyes, biting her lips as anger started to invade her body. “ _Kill her, Kill Veronica Lodge._ ” The voice resonated in her head over and over again.

“Elizabeth!” the voice of her mother replaced the voice in her head.

When Betty’s eyelids opened, her pupils were hyper dilated and a frown was adorning her face. Her vision was blurry and everybody slowly started to disappear, _everything_ started to disappear except from the door she saw her target and her ex-lover hurrying into it seconds ago. On autopilot, her body made a 180 degrees and she walked in its direction.

“ _Kill Veronica Lodge_ ”

“Betty!” growled Alice as she tried to grip her arm but she was already out of her reach. “Dammit!” What the hell was her daughter doing?

 

* * *

 

“Veronica, what is the meaning of this?”

“My father, he…” Veronica wiped her tears and turned around so she was facing her lover “He promised me to Clifford.”

(silence…)

“That’s why I wanted to talk to you earlier.”

Archie massaged the back of his neck with his left hand and sighed “Since when do you know?”

“Yesterday…”

“Ronnie… Why… What will happen now? I mean –“ Veronica launched herself at him and gripped his face with her hands.

“We run away Archie! We still have time! My father and everyone are still in the ballroom! Let me just take some jewelleries before we leave. We will sell then to buy us a little land where we would build a farm and –“ Archie gently took her hands off his face.

“Ronnie…”

“—And I will build a flowers gardens in our yard and we’ll work every day on labouring our lands. And we’ll have children and –“

“Veronica !” The black haired girl stopped talking mid-sentence as tears were freely falling on her cheeks.

“Please say yes” she begged him.

Archie sighed again “Ronnie, you know we can’t.”

“…Why?” Even though she already knew the answer.

“We’ll never cross these walls alive and you know it.”

Veronica was sobbing uncontrollably now, her knees flinching and, if it wasn’t for Archie’s arms around her body, she would have collapsed on the floor.

“But I don’t love him Archie… I love you…”

Archie kissed her top of her head: “I love you too Ronnie”.

 

* * *

 

Betty put her knife back into its pocket and learned against the wall hiding her from the others. She lifted her head up as her eyes suddenly stung, her vision becoming blurry again. Only this time it was because they were filled with water and not because _that_ thing was trying to take over her.

“ _I can’t do this_ ” she thought. She couldn’t kill Veronica Lodge right now… Not when she was with Archie… Because killing her would also mean she would have to kill Archie and she knew she wouldn’t have the strength to do it. Even if she didn’t want to admit it, she knew that, deep down, she was still in love with him. The heartache she felt at the sight of him holding the heiress or at hearing him saying the word “I love you” to another girl than her were proves of it.

_“I’ll always love you Betty Cooper_ ” she closed her eyes as she heard him, _again_ , in her head saying these words to her.

“ _Dammit”_ She hit the wall with her fist before she sprinted off toward the exit, wiping her eyes. Turning a corner, she bumped head first into someone, her mask falling on the ground with the impact.

 “Who are you and what are yo—“ the guard never got the chance to finish his sentence because Betty stabbed him in the throat and put a hand on his mouth to muffle his screams of agony. She felt drops of blood staining her cheeks but she didn’t care.

Just as she was about to drop the corpse on the ground, she heard voices getting closer: “Did you hear that? I think it was coming from that way.”

“ _Shit, shit, shit!”_ Betty couldn’t let them find the body or they would alarm everyone and her friends’ life would be in danger. She lifted the body over her shoulder and entered the first room she found (fortunately it was closed by).

 

* * *

 

_Tock tock …_

Veronica didn’t move from her chair on the balcony. She brought her glass of wine to her lips and nearly finished it in one gulp. She heard the door being pushed open and dried her cheek with her cover.

“ _Mija_?”

Veronica hummed but didn’t turn around.

“Are you okay?”

The younger woman laughed and lifted her glass in the air: “Yeah, yeah I am perfectly fine mom as you can see.”

Hermione flinched when she heard the sarcasm in her daughter’s voice.

“Ronnie, your father wishes to –“

“I asked him to run away with me.” Cut Veronice, sniffling softly.

Hermione’s eyes nearly budged out of their orbits, understanding who the _him_ was. “Oh no Ronnie…”

“Don’t worry mom… He said no… Dad won… I’ll marry Clifford Blossom like he wants me to.”

“Ronnie…” Hermione closed the door behind her and walked up to her daughter to hug her.

 

* * *

 

 “Shit, shit!” screamed Betty (she seemed to say that a lot lately) as the rock under her foot collapsed and fell in the nothingness below her. She gripped another rock which, fortunately, didn’t break under her weight. Rapidly, she swung her body and gripped another rock with her other hand to stabilized herself. She didn’t waste a second and climbed up, ignoring the pain she was feeling in her scratched hands. Kevin would certainly kill her when he’ll see her ripped and stained clothes but she didn’t care. Now her preoccupation number one was to reach the top and survive.

“What the hell is this place” grumbled Betty as she lifted herself up on the broken rock. She dropped on her knees and tried to recover a steady breath.

She tried to remember how she got there: she killed the guy, she heard the voices, she hid in the first room she saw, she saw the fireplace and went in it to climb up until she reached the top so she could flee… That’s when things went wrong: as she was starting her escalation, she pushed a brick which sank in the wall and the floor suddenly collapsed under her. She fell. Everything went black. When she woke up, she thought she was in the castle’s sewers since she was surrounded by water, stench, moist and instable structures. She tried to find the exit. On her way, she had to escalate a couple of wall and she nearly died three times as the old floor yielded under its weight (just like it happened a minute  
 ago).

Her stomach rumbled. When was the last time she ate? She took out a little black bag from her pocket and started to eat some Fruity Pebbles she always brought with her on mission. After all, her motto wasn’t “A hungry assassin is a useless assassin” for nothing.

“Now what?” She whispered to nobody just as she saw lights emanating from a crack in the wall ahead of her. She smiled “Well, well, well, if this isn’t my way out.”

 

* * *

 

Betty jumped over the fence and whistled as soon as her feet touched the ground.

“ _Free at last!”_ she happily thought as she heard the brouhaha emanating from the castle behind her. The cold breeze of the night lifted her hair softly in the air.

A galloping horse appeared to her left. She hopped on it and slammed the reins, hard, the animal accelerating. Betty glanced behind her and was happy to see the castle becoming further and further behind her. One hand went into her jacket and took out a new object she didn’t had on her when she first entered the castle that night. Bringing it closer to her face, her green eyes reflected on the blue blade of the dagger. Her eyes flicked on the dagger’s handle which partly consisted of glass imprisoning the same glowing sand she saw in the giant hourglass hours ago. What a wonderful dagger she stole from the Lodge’s castle. Maybe that was their hidden treasure since it was, well, hidden deep inside the castle. Far from everyone’s eyes…

“ _Wait till I show this to Juggie and Kevin!”_

However, what she didn’t know was how that dagger was about to change her and everyone’s life… Certainly not for the best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter ! Don't worry, I know there wasn't many B&V moments since the beginning but I can assure you the rest of the story will be about them two being paired up together. 
> 
> Hopefully I'll update sonner next time hehe!


	4. Second chance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! :) 
> 
> I know this chapter is shorter than the others and the update is really soon (since I upload the third chapter yesterday haha). However, I work really hard (I worked on this chapter from 12PM to 5PM) to upload this as fast as I could since I will be working 13 hours/day for the next 5 days approximately (so no time to continue the story during these days :\ ). Also, I was feeling really bad for you guys since B&V didn't really interact with each other since the beginning of the story (and I know everyone is here for these interactions). So here it is!
> 
> Anyways, it would be nice to know if you (readers) like the story so far or not (to know if I should continue with this one or change to another one already).

_BANG!_

Veronica jumped when her door opened suddenly and made contact with her wall. She turned around, expecting to see her father, but she met not one but two redhead instead. Veronica crossed her arms in front of her and didn’t try to erase the scowl on her face.

“What do you want Clifford?”

“Well, yesterday you disappeared suddenly just as I entered the room. Your lovely mother told me you were sick so you had retrieved to your room. How bad of a husband would I be if I didn’t come and check how my future wife is doing today?” said the Vizier with an arrogant smile.

“You would be the perfect husband if you get out of here and never come back.”

“Please to see you are feeling better today _honey_ ” Veronica grimaced at the nickname but she bit back her next remark, knowing he was deliberately trying to upset her.

“So what, you had to bring your daughter with you to see me? Why? Afraid I’ll hurt you if we’re alone?” Veronica’s eyes shifted on the second redhead as she spoke.

“Oh Veronica –“ started Clifford but he was interrupted by his daughter who took a step toward the dark haired girl.

“Oh shut up both of you. Let’s drop this fucking passive-aggressive uninteresting talk and let’s get straight to the point will you?” groaned Cheryl as she flicked her red hair over her left shoulder with her hand. As she did so, Veronica saw a little brooch in the shape of a spider on the front of her shoulder. Veronica grimaced again “ _Who the hell wears spider brooch?_ ” Something was really wrong in this family. No wonder Jason tried to flee.

“Oh, you’re right Cheryl. Sorry, I was mesmerized by Veronica’s beauty.”

“Fuck you Cliff –“ the rest of her sentence was never heard as Clifford ran toward her and gripped her by the neck roughly, lifting her up from the ground. Her eyes widened, as she became suddenly afraid of the man in front of her. As for Cheryl, she looked even more bore than before, analyzing if her lipstick was still in place through the mirror.

“Where is it Veronica Lodge? Hum? WHERE IS IT!” The Vizier was raising his voice but not loud enough to alert the people walking outside her room.

Veronica gripped his hands with her own to try to make him loosened his grip but it didn’t work: “W-Where is what?”.

Clifford’s grip tightened and Veronica opened her mouth but air didn’t fill her lungs anymore. Her trachea was completely obstructed.

Cheryl rolled her eyes: “Dad, if you kill her, she won’t be able to answer you.”

The man loosened his gripped but still kept her off the ground. Three thoughts were filling Veronica’s head at that moment. First : _“Thank you Cheryl, now I can breathe”_ , secondly : _“How is Clifford so strong?”_ , then finally: “ _What the heck were they talking about?”_.

“Where is the dagger Veronica?” Clifford asked her as if he read her thoughts. “Nobody knows about it existence except from your mother and yourself. I know even your father isn’t aware of this treasure inside these walls since the castle was built before he became the Maharaja. I know it was your mother’s family who were ruling these lands before Hiram married her.”

“S-So how come y-you know about it?”

“Let’s just say we have some secret in the Blossom’s family too,” whispered Clifford eyeing his daughter before his cold stare return on the beautiful Latina. “Now tell me where it is.”

“I-I don’t know, hidden somewhere in the castle.”

“Don’t try to fool me! I went down there and there was nothing except this bag of disgusting things on the receptacle. Your mother was with us the entire time yesterday and you were the only one absent. It doesn’t take a genie to guess the answer to one plus one.” Veronica eyed the opened bag on the ground, fruity pebbles now spread on the floor. _“A bag full of Fruity Pebbles? Who eats these things?”_

“I-I don’t understand…” whined the heiress, her head suddenly dizzy from the lack of air.

Clifford raised his other hand to slap her when Cheryl’s voice stopped him : “First of all, don’t hurt her or the bruise will raise suspicion. Secondly, she is telling the truth: it wasn’t her.”

“What?” Clifford’s and Veronica’s attention turned toward the redheaded who was kneeled on the ground.  She stood up and turned around, one hand in front of her body. Veronica’s eyes widened again when she saw a tarantula, a real one, moving in her hand.

“It wasn’t her. There was blood on the ground and it wasn’t Veronica’s.”

“Whose blood was it then?”

Cheryl brought her hand with the spider near her ear and waited.

 _“Wait a minute, was Cheryl having a conversation with a fucking spider?”_ astoundingly thought Veronica. This family really was beyond crazy!

Cheryl’s face became angrier: “It’s _that girl’s_ sister. Polly’s sister.”

“ _Polly???”_ thought Veronica.

“You’re sure Cheryl?”

“When am I wrong?”

Clifford sighed “Then I think I know what to do to get that dagger back.” He then turned his attention on Veronica once again, loosening his grip. “And you, Veronica Lodge, if you don’t want anything to happen to your father or your beloved mother, you’ll keep your mouth shut. Got it?”

“Do you know how many time it take a human to die from a tarantula’s venom Veronica?” asked Cheryl as she inspected her nails, the tarantula now on her shoulder like a fucking parrot. “Well, if you don’t want to discover it by mama Lodge getting bitten, I would kept my ugly mouth shut. Understand?” Veronica slowly nodded and Cheryl exited the room without another word.

“I am watching you Veronica.” Concluded Clifford as he roughly pushed the girl on the ground. Veronica immediately put her hands on her sore neck, coughing non-stop.

* * *

 

 

Betty was peacefully sleeping in her bed when something gripped her body and lifted her up before she felt pain on her back. Her eyes snapped wide open and she was met with the angry stare of her father who was pushing her up against her bedroom’s walls, his right arm flat against her throat.

“Why are you so stupid Betty huh?” screamed Hal as she pushed her further on the woods.

“D-Dad?”

“Because of your foolishness and your stubbornness Kevin Keller was arrested yesterday! Who knows what that boy is telling them right now to prevent himself from being torture.”

“K-Kevin? W-What do y-you mean?” Betty didn’t try to fight off her dad. She knew it was a lost cause.

“When you decide to act on your own yesterday, running after the heiress like that, we waited for you outside the castle but we never saw you. Kevin re-entered to look for you. The guards found Kevin and a body hidden in a room at the same time. They arrested him and put him in their dungeon.”

Betty blinked to stay focus, but the lack of air was making her dizzy.

“Hal stop it.” Came Alice’s voice as a hand posed itself on his arm holding his daughter’s throat.

“Why would I? She didn’t deserve a special treatment because she is our daughter!” growled the angry man without looking at his wife.

“And if you handicap her, she won’t be able to work for us anymore and now, more than ever, we need all the help we can find.”

Hal growled before and dropped his arm, Betty slid limply on the ground. The man pointed a finger in her direction: “I hope you’ll find a solution before that Keller boy talks.” And Hal was gone.

Alice crouched in front of her daughter and softly put a hand on her shoulder. Scared greened eyes met hers.

“H-He isn’t lying about Kevin?”

Alice shook her head and Betty lowered her head.

“Betty, why didn’t you listen to me?” It was more a statement than a question.

“I…”

“Don’t talk anymore Elizabeth and think about something to get Kevin out of there.”

* * *

 

Veronica inspected her neck in her mirror, eyeing the red marks now adorning it. Fortunately, her necklace would hide them from her mother’s and father’s eyes. She walked towards her balcony, her hand trailing on her fence and her brown orbs eyeing her mother walking below, in the flowers garden. She sighed: how could her life could be so perfect one day and became a real nightmare the other? And Archie… She hadn’t seen him since yesterday when he told her they couldn’t run away. She wondered what he was doing right now.

Just as she was about to turn around and go back to her bed, a hand covered her mouth and a blade was on her neck.

“Humhmgh” she tried to scream but everything was shut by the hand. _Again?! What was it with people and harassing her today?_

“Shut up or I slide open your throat.” Came a muffled voice behind her. “Am I clear?”

Veronica nodded rapidly before she watched the black gloved hand getting away from her lips. The blade also disappeared from her neck but immediately went between her shoulder blades. The heiress winced when the tip of the blade cut through her skin.

“W-What do you want?”

“I heard your father put a man in the dungeon yesterday. I want him to be free.”

“Y-You know my father won’t let him go.”

The blade pressed even harder on her back. “I know, that’s why I’ll make a trade with him: that man’s life against yours.”

Veronica gritted her teeth. Could she have a break for a fucking moment? She lightly bowed her head before she head-butted as hard as she could her aggressor. She heard a high-pitched yelp and the blade got away from her body.

“Fucking bitch!” Twirling around, Veronica saw a silhouette covered in black from head to toes, a cloak and a capuche hiding it face. The intruder was gripping its nose with one hand as the other was keeping the blade in her direction. “Damn!” The person put her hand away from her face and Veronica saw the bottom half of its face was also covered by a black tissue. The person seemed to be an assassin.

Green and brown met for the second times, though Veronica didn’t recognized them as she was too preoccupied the night before to remember them. Veronica kicked her opponent’s arm holding the knife, successfully throwing it away from them and tried to flee toward her doors. However, the person kicked her behind the knees, succeeding in making her fell on the ground. She felt the person jumping on her, taking both her hands on her back and tying them together.

* * *

 

 

Betty lifted the youngest Lodge and turned her so she was facing her again. “Do something stupid like this again and I’ll kill you.”

“No you won’t.”

Betty’s eyebrows lifted up in surprise.

“You won’t because if you do then your friend will never be free.”

Betty gritted her teeth when she saw Veronica’s arrogant smile.

“Shut up. I got paid to free him so his life doesn’t matter to me. I could just kill you and tell my boss I got here too late to save him but that I killed the Maharaja’s daughter to avenge his death.” The blonde girl was lying of course but the heiress didn’t need to know it. It seemed to work when the arrogant smile slowly disappeared.

However, before Betty could open her mouth again, a knock was heard on the door. The assassin immediately jumped behind her victim and put a hand on her mouth to prevent her from saying anything. Betty reached behind her back and took out the dagger she stole yesterday and she pressed it against Veronica’s throat.

“Shhh”

“Milady?” tentatively said the voice.

“Tell that person to go away.” Whispered Betty, before she cut Veronica when she saw her opening her mouth : “And don’t say anything stupid or –“

“Or you’ll slit open my throat, I know.” Glared the heiress event though the intruder was behind her.

The third person knocked again. “Milady? Are you alright?”

Veronica felt the blade cutting the skin on her neck as more pressure was applied.

“I am alright. What do you want?” said Veronica through her closed teeth because of the pain.

“Can you open the door?”

“Sorry I… I am naked for the moment. I was about to take a bath.”

“Oh, pardon me milady. Your mother sent me to see if you were alright since you haven’t left your room since yesterday.”

“I am fine, thank you. I’ll get down when I’ll finish bath.” Veronica sighed with relief when she felt the pressure on her neck decreased.

“Good milady. Call me if you need anything.”

“Thank you. And, can you tell my mother I’ll have lunch with her? We’ll eat this new meal she told me about. I think it was called _Socorro*?”_

There was a silence for a fraction of a second then a “Good milady.” Then footsteps echoed on the other side of the door. Veronica heard the person behind her sighed in relief.

“Good girl,” Betty said as she patted the top of her victim’s hair as she caresses the Lodge girl’s skin with the tip of her dagger. “Now, where were we?” The blonde came in front of Veronica again.

“You were telling me about doing a deal with my father.”

Betty put her hands behind her back. “Yes, yes. I’m pretty sure daddy will free my friend to get his little girl back.”

Veronica laughed suddenly as she shook her head, her hair following each of her movements. “Great plan, I give it to you. However, there is something you haven’t thought about.”

“Hum?”

“You may be an assassin or whatever you call yourself but… You are not as intelligent as you think you are.”

“What the hell?” snarled Betty, taking a menacing step forward.

Veronica only snorted: “Do you even know what _Socorro_ means?”

Betty blinked, taken aback. “It –“ _It was meal no?_

“It’s Portuguese actually. And you know what it means?” Before Betty could answer, Veronica laughed again and continued “No, of course you don’t. You’re too dumb to know what it means”. Betty took another step forward. “You see, _Socorro_ means : Help.”

Just as Veronica finished her sentence, the door opened roughly and, before Betty could turn around, she felt something sharped piercing the flesh of her back. Another sharp object soon followed the first one. Betty’s muscles contracted in pain, her eyes widened and she turned around to see who entered the room. She just had the time to see a man pointing her with his now emptied bow as an arrow missed her cheek by a millimeter (so arrows were the sharp objects in her back making her wanting to scream in pain), then she saw a flash of red hair rushing toward her.

“Veronica!” Betty immediately recognized his voice “ _Archie…”_

Archie tackled Betty, who tottered on the balcony and toggled over the fence. Everything happened so fast: she saw Archie taking Veronica’s face between his face then she only saw the sky as her body was falling into the air, getting nearer her death by the seconds. People always claimed your life filled in front of your eyes when you’re about to die. If that was true, then why was the picture of Archie caressing Veronica’s face the only thing she was seeing right now?

With the gravity, her body flipped and her head was now facing the ground which was getting extremely near. By reflexes, Betty closed her eyes, screamed, put her hands in front of her and closed her hands in fists. Wind suddenly rose and her hair (the one which got out of her capuche) was now whipping her face. She also felt little grains hitting her face too.

“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaa…”

She stopped screaming when her lungs were out of hair. “Huh?” Why hadn’t she felt her head exploding on her ground? She’s sure she was about to hit the pavement seconds ago, before her eyelids closed. And she couldn’t have hit the floor because she could still feel her feet above of her head.

The assassin cracked opened an eye and gasped when she saw the floor being not further then an arm length from her. She closed her eyes when sands got stuck in it. “ _Wait sands?_ ” She reopened them and turned her head lightly to her right, staring at the now glowing daggers in her fist. The colors around her started to get darker as more sand was surrounding her and as time seemed to slow down around her.

“What the –“ The sands twirled around her more forcefully. That’s when things got even stranger. The floor moved on its own and started to get away from her body. Wait… Was it the floor which was moving away from her or was it her body that was getting back up in the air? Betty lifted her head and analysed the flower garden which was also getting smaller by the minute. Ok, she was definitely getting higher in the sky… Was she flying?

The sands was everywhere around her, making it hard for Betty to clearly see what was happening. She narrowed her eyes when she saw something moving in one of the alleys of flowers. She recognized Hermione’s silhouette but there was something strange about her. Either she was practicing a new gait which consisted to walk backward or… Time was being reversed?

Her body twirled around again and she was now facing the sky, eyeing a bird flying backward. The balcony was also getting nearer by the second. Her body passed over the fence before she felt her feet moving on their own in Veronica’s direction. Archie, head down, ran backward as Betty’s body turned its back on the two men, the arrow missing her cheek minutes ago getting back in its owner’s hand. She felt the pain in her back disappearing and Veronica’s lips kept moving but no sounds were coming out from it. Her grip on the dagger’s handle loosened and the sands dissipated as quickly as it appeared.  Colors started to return to normal as Veronica’s lips were getting redder to match her lipstick and her eyes returned to its brown color as well. Everything returned to its normal speed.

“-- Fuck” finished Betty in a whisper.

“No you won’t.”

Betty’s eyebrows lifted up in confusion.

“You won’t because if you do then your friend will never be free.”  Veronica smiled arrogantly.

“Wait… What?” Betty was clearly confused by now. _What the hell happened? What the hell WAS happening right now?_ _Why was Veronica in front of her and why was she saying the  exact same thing she did minutes ago?_

“Oh my god, you’re stupider than I thought. Let me explain it to you; if you kill me now, you won’t have anything in exchange for your friend’s life.” The heiress rolled her eyes.

Betty turned her back on the captive girl and pulled off the tissue covering her mouth to take a deep breath. She lifted the dagger near her eyes and examined the sands slowly moving in its handle. _“What is this thing?_ ” It was like she was living the same moment for the second time. It was as if she had… traveled in time? Was it why the Lodge family was keeping this dagger a secret from the world? Because it could control time? Betty lifted her head in the door's direction. If that was the case then…

Betty put the tissue on her mouth again and jumped behind Veronica, pressing the dagger on her throat roughly, ignoring her whimpers.

“What the hell?” groaned Veronica before she was interrupted by a knock on her door.

_Tock… Tock…_

Betty shushed Veronica as a smile made its way on her lips. Life was giving her a second chance. This time, she wouldn’t get fooled by Veronica. She would get Kevin free. Because with the dagger, she was invincible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * "Socorro" means "Help" in Portuguese. Camila Mendes (Veronica on Riverdale) taught this word to Lili Reinhart (Betty) in an interview they had together, so I needed to plug that word in the story somewhere :P Just like the Fruity Pebbles, I mentioned it in the story because Lili is in LOVE with these cereals.
> 
> Also the song Josie sang in the last chapter was "Time only knows", the song from the game!


	5. The sands of time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delay but since the last update I worked like 55 hours a week.   
> I promised I'll try to update sooner next time!

_Betty put the tissue on her mouth again and jumped behind Veronica, pressing the dagger on her throat roughly, ignoring her whimpers._

_“What the hell?” groaned Veronica before she was interrupted by a knock on her door._

_Tock… Tock…_

_Betty shushed Veronica as a smile made its way on her lips. This time, she wouldn’t get fooled by Veronica. She would get Kevin free. Because with the dagger, she was invincible._

_……._

Betty gripped Veronica’s hair and pulled her head back, exposing more skin to the assassin’s blade.

“Milady?” tentatively said the voice on the other side of the door.

“Tell that person to go away.” Whispered Betty.  “And don’t say anything stupid or –“

“Or you’ll slit open my throat, I know.” Glared the heiress event though the intruder was behind her.

The third person knocked again. “Milady? Are you alright?”

Veronica felt the blade cutting the skin on her neck as more pressure was applied.

“I’m alright. What do you want?” said Veronica through gritted teeth because of the pain.

“Can you open the door?”

“Sorry I… I am naked for the moment. I was about to take a bath.”

“Oh, pardon me milady. Your mother sent me to see if you were alright since you haven’t left your room since yesterday.”

“I am fine, thank you. I’ll get down when I’ll finish my bath.” Veronica sighed with relief when she felt the pressure on her neck decreased. “ _I guess I said the right thing_ ” thought the heiress.

“Good milady. Call me if you need anything.”

Before Veronica could replied, Betty released her hair and covered her mouth instead. “I wouldn’t do what you’re about to do if I were you.” Footsteps getting further away from them echoed on the other side of the door.

“Humph?”

“Don’t try to _Soco_ -whatever it is or try to send a secret “help me” message.”

Veronica shook her head violently to rip the hand from her mouth : “Yeah? And what’s keeping me from just screaming right now? Maybe you’ll kill me but you and your friend will never get out of here alive and you know it.”

Betty clenched her teeth, knowing the heiress was right. She needed to stop her before she got her kill.

“Well, if I die, my partner out there will pierce your mother’s heart with an arrow,” lied Betty.

“Liar. Assassins like you never work in team.”

“ _True_ ” thought Betty but she couldn’t tell her she was right. Instead, she lifted her up by the collar and pulled her near the balcony so they could both see the flowers garden underneath them.

“If I’m a liar, then how would I know your mother is peacefully walking in the third alley right now?” Betty scanned the area, hoping to see Hermione’s silhouette. “ _I’m sure I saw her walking there when I reversed time.”_ Her heart calmed down when the dark haired girl beside her gasped.

“How do you… I-I won’t say anything. I promise. Please, don’t hurt my mother.” Begged Veronica as her eyes scanned her mother’s body walking in the alley pointed by her aggressor.

“Good girl,” Betty patted her head, smirking when she saw the annoyed scowl on the other girl’s face. “Now, where were we?” She pushed Veronica on her bed before she straddled her, her knees sinking in the mattress next to Veronica’s body, to keep her from moving. “Shhh, now all you have to do is to stay still until night comes so I can deal with your father alone.”

“People will look for me.”

Betty pulled out a bottle from her back and purred some liquid on a tissue. “I know. That’s why you’ll take a little nap.”

Veronica turned her head on the side when her aggressor tried to put the tissue on her mouth/nose. Betty growled, annoyed, before she took the heiress’s chin in her hand and roughly turned her head so they were facing each other. She didn’t had time for this.

“Either you stop fighting or its mama Lodge who will take a nap. However, hers will be forever instead of a couple of hours.”

Veronica glared at her and Betty smirked even though the other girl couldn’t see it since most of her face was hidden. The blonde girl was about to put the cloth on Veronica’s face when a voice interrupted her:

“What do we have here.”

Betty took the dagger and put it on Veronica’s heart, ready to strike if the intruder took another step toward her. “Back off or I’ll kill her.” The intruder looked at the dagger before his eyes roamed back up to the assassin’s face.

“Easy there. I come in peace.” He slowly lifted both his hands up to prove his point. “In fact, I am here to talk to you about something which, I think, we both wish we had. Something we could both have back if we work together.”

“I don’t think I share similar wishes with a Blossom.” Spat Betty.

“What if I told you we could both get back what was unfairly taken away from us years ago?”

“What do you mean?” Betty loosened her grip on Veronica but the heiress didn’t move as she was trying to understand what was happening between the assassin and the vizier.

“With that dagger in your hand and my knowledge, I could get Jason, my beloved son, back and you could get Polly back.” When Clifford mentioned the dagger, Veronica’s eyes darted toward the blade near her heart before she gasped, surprised to see her family treasure in the hand of the intruder. That could explain how the assassin knew her maid was about to knock on her door and her plan to call help in her own language. But, how  did this person learn how to use the dagger so quickly? How come the sand of time didn’t kill her? Legends told only sorcerers/enchanters or people with an artefact could use it safely without getting their life drained by the sand.

Betty’s eyebrows lifted up, surprise, before she frowned again “That’s impossible. She’s dead.”

“It’s as impossible as falling from this balcony and surviving. Yet, you’re standing in front of me right now.”

“How do you –“

“ _So this person was supposed to die the first time it came here, but the dagger saved him/her.”_ Thought Veronica as her eyes wandered from Clifford to the green orbs, now filled with doubt, of her aggressor. From the curves she was feeling on her stomach, she guessed her aggressor was a woman after all.

“It’s not important how I know about it. What is important is the fact that you have the dagger I need to get my son back and I have the biggest reservoir of sand of time you’ll need to get Polly back.”

“ _Polly? Who’s that? Cheryl mentioned her name too… Wait… Was Polly Jason’s secret lover? Oh no, don’t tell me Clifford is trying to…”_ Fear took possession of her body when she understood what the vizier wanted to do. Her father mentioned she had received a gift the night she fled the ballroom; a giant hourglass. Why hasn’t she clicked at that time? Why hasn’t her mother understood what Clifford was about to do? That explained why he was so frustrated when he entered her room with Cheryl when he discovered the dagger was stolen.

“You’re crazy Clifford!” panicked Veronica before she turned her head toward the assassin which was still straddling her. “Please, I know you hate me and I can understand why,” green orbs connected with her eyes, “But you must NOT listen to him! Whatever he’s trying to tell you isn’t true! ”

Betty narrowed her eyes as thoughts were running marathons in her head. Polly… Was there really a way to bring her back?  Or was Blossom trying to fool her?

“Whoever you are. Whatever Polly means to you. Please. Kill me if you want, but don’t listen to him.” Pleaded the heiress, her eyes softening when she felt the assassin’s grip loosened. She wanted to move her hand but they were still tied on the bed.

Clifford laughed : “I find it pretty ironic of you to say that Veronica Lodge.”

“Get out of here Clifford before I –“ but Clifford’s attention wasn’t on her  attention anymore; it was back on the assassin.

“Well, it’s up to you who you choose to trust. Me, who lost my beloved son and your sister’s lover or that spoiled girl who’s the cause of their death.”

Betty’s breath itched. Clifford smiled mischievously.

“You didn’t knew? Veronica ordered their death when she found out Jason didn’t love her the way she wanted him to.”

“LIAR” screamed Veronica. “Don’t listen to him!”

“That’s why she started to secretly date that Andrews boy which, by the way, could be considered as Jason’s twin.”

“No!” screamed Veronica, trying to free her hands to shut Clifford. “You’re just a –“

“Shut up!” growled Betty and Veronica never finished her sentence. “Why should I trust the girl who took everything from me?”

“Please…” Veronica begged, but a tissue was put on her mouth and she suddenly became dizzy. The room started to spin around her as green orbs were angrily glaring at her. Darkness was starting to get her as her eyelids were getting heavier by the seconds. Just before she lost consciousness, she heard the assassin talking:

“Now tell me what I have to do.”

* * *

 

 

 

Veronica was madly running through the castle’s corridors, screaming at whoever she was seeing to call the guards because Clifford was pairing up with an assassin to kill the Maharaja. She woke up minutes ago and succeeded in freeing herself from the tissues tying her hands.

_“Where are that damn snake and this stupid assassin”_ she thought. _“Where did dad put that damn hourglass?”_ She turned left when she met a “T” end and sprinted toward the ballroom. “ _Dad must have left the Hourglass in this room since it’s so big”_. Veronica heard the guards following her closely behind, weapons drawn. She briefly looked back but didn’t saw any redhead. “ _Where is he?”_

They all turned right and heard voices on the other side of the giant door they had in front of them. “ _That’s it!”_ Veronica pushed open the door and yelled : “STOP IT!”.

“Too late _Ronnie_ ” laughed Clifford before he shrugged when a dozen of guards circled him.

Lifting her eyes on the top of the giant hourglass, Veronica recognized the assassin silhouette and … “ _Oh no…”_ The dagger was put in it.

“What have you done!” yelled the heiress as a guard was grabbing Clifford wooden stick, shaped as a cobra on its top, as another was putting his hands behind his back.

“Getting Polly back” snapped back the assassin as guards were now circling the hourglass.

“You stupid –“ but a clicked interrupted her.

* * *

 

 

Betty, surprised, glanced down, where the dagger was as light was starting to glow around the blade. Intrigued, she tried to reach the handle of the weapon but the ground started to shake under her, panic raised among the guards as Clifford laugh filled the room.

“Yes!” The man kicked the guard holding him and took back his wooden stick from the petrified man.

Betty fell on her butt when sands erupted from the hourglass and twirled aggressively around the room. _“What the hell is happening?!”_

“ARGHH!! Help !!”

Betty turned her attention toward the scream and she stared, horrified, as one guard was suddenly surrounded by sands. The poor man was trying to cut the material with his blade but it was unsuccessful. The sands twirled even harder around him and, soon, he had both of his hands around his neck as he was trying to breath. The sands were wiping his face and his skin was slowly starting to disintegrated, his scream of agony soon followed by those of his companions.

* * *

 

 

Veronica ran behind a pillar as sands was now everywhere in the room. She unconsciously grabbed her necklace, her fingers feeling each pearl adorning its front, a gesture she used to do when she was nervous since she was a child.  What was she supposed to do right now?

From the corner of her eyes, she saw a shadow moving in the hourglass’ direction. Narrowing her eyes, she recognized Clifford’s silhouette making its way toward the assassin or, more specifically, toward the dagger still sank in the top. She quickly darted her eyes toward the assassin still on its butt, looking everywhere, completely lost. She stepped out from behind the pillar, feeling the sands wiping her cheeks fiercely.

“Don’t let him take the dagger!” she yelled through the sandstorm. To her relief, she saw the assassin looking in her direction before looking back at Clifford then at the dagger itself. Just as Clifford was about to put his hands on the dagger, the assassin hastily took it, getting the blade out from its container. Winds suddenly intensified and the assassin was thrown off the hourglass before it fell on the ground.

“GIVE ME THE DAGGER!” screamed Clifford, lifting his wooden stick in the air.

Veronica saw the assassin painfully getting up and fleeing the room through the first door it reached. The Lodge woman tried to follow it but sands obstructed her vision and stopped her. Stepping back, she ran toward the door behind her.

“GIVE ME THE DAGG---“ _TOC_ the end of Clifford’s sentence was shut as Veronica closed the door, her heart beating so hard in her chest she was feeling it in her head. However, her nightmare continued when her eyes landed on the corpses in front of her. Her hands flew on her mouth as a horrified scream fled her mouth. Sands were already covering the ground and, at some places, even the walls.

She needed to find that assassin and to take the dagger back as soon as possible to get everything back in place before it was too late. However, more importantly, she needed to find Archie, _right now_. She sprinted again, hoping with all her heart her lover was alright.


	6. Nightmare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the people following this story :)   
> I hope you'll like this new chapter filled with only B & V haha

Betty closed the door behind her and leaned on it, looking down at her shaky hands. Dead bodies… There were dead bodies everywhere. They all died when the sands… _The sands_ … Betty immediately got the tissue on her face off as well as the rest of her clothes. She needed to get the sands off of her before it killed her too.

The blonde girl, now only in her underwear, shivered when she felt the coldness of the stone under her bare feet. She inspected her body for any signs of sands.   _Nothing,_ her skin seemed intact. She brought her fingers in her hair and crunched down, tears falling down her cheeks as images of the dying guards were flashing before her eyes. She closed her eyes, trying to forget all the corpses she saw as she was running for her life in the corridors minutes ago.

“Kevin…” Betty lifted her head and wiped her eyes. Now wasn’t the time to cry, she had to find Kevin and to make sure he was OK.  She eyed the maids’ clothes lying on the bed next to her before she took it and put it on her body. She adjusted the dagger on her waistband and ran out of the room.

 

* * *

 

Betty tightly gripped the bow she now had in her hand, ready to fire an arrow if she came face to face with Clifford Blossom or any other threatened figures. She had been looking for the dungeons for the last 45 minutes and she wasn’t getting nearer. She was completely lost and she was starting to lose patience.

_Cling-Clang-Cling_. Betty jumped around and arched her bow, ready to fire her arrow. She was now face to face with a woman dressed in violet silk clothes covered by a black cloak around her shoulder as its hood was covering her face. The woman also had an arrow pointed toward Betty.

“Calm down.” The woman lifted both of her hands up to prove she had no bad intentions. “I’m not your enemy.”

Betty didn’t lower her weapon at first.

“Put down your arrow and I’ll take this hood off.”

Betty sighed and obeyed still on her guard.  The woman gripped her hood and slowly took it off her head: beautiful black hair fell over slim shoulders and tan skin, gorgeous red lips and perfect eyebrows appeared.

 Annoyance took over Betty’s body when she recognized none other than Veronica Lodge in front of her. “No way…”

Veronica smiled before she flicked her hair on her shoulder. “You must be glad you didn’t shoot the daughter of the Maharaja.”

“More like I regret I haven’t shoot sooner when I had the chance” whispered the blonde girl as she turned around to continue her researches. She heard footsteps following her.

“Funny though because even if you’re wearing our maids’ clothes, I don’t remember your face….”

_“So she didn’t recognize me yet_.” “Maybe it’s because I was confined in the laundry room in the basement since I started working here.” Lied the assassin.

“The laundry room huh?”

“And I’m pretty sure you don’t know half your maids’ names or faces.”

“Touché. So, what’s your name?” The heiress went in front of Betty and started to walk backward to look at her new companion, the bow now hanging on her shoulder.

“Lili… Lili Reinhart” Betty told her the name she used when she was on missions.

“Nice to meet you Lili. You don’t know how happy I am to meet you. To finally meet a friendly face I mean.” Veronica took a step toward Betty who stopped walking. “Though I am curious. Where did you learn those skills with the bow?”

“Why do you think I have skills?”

“Come on, I can tell by the way you hold it.”

“ _I need to look as innocent as possible”_ Betty scratched her index on her cheek “One of my brothers is a blacksmith outside these walls and my father was a member of your father’s army. As the only daughter I guess my hobbies consisted of playing with weapons instead of confectioning dresses and wearing them.” She finished with a shrugged.

“Oh, I see. Your father is in which squad?”

Betty’s body went rigid before she walked pass Veronica so she couldn’t see her face. “Huh, he was working in...” An idea popped in her head “He worked in the dungeon. That’s why I was trying to get there. I need to find him. But I don’t remember where the dungeons are…”

“Oh… I see… Well, this castle is so huge it’s easy to get lost. Let me show you the way.”

“You would really do that for me?”

“Only if you help me looking for my parents after.”

Betty looked to her right where the other woman was now walking beside her. “Sure. Thank you.”

Veronica smiled at her before she pointed to her left. “The dungeons are this way.”

“Oh, right.”

“Have you… Have you seen another survivor?”

“No, I only saw dead bodies since I came here…”

“Have you seen my mother?”

Betty shook her head before silence filled the corridors. Only the echoes of theirs footsteps were audible. Veronica couldn’t stand it any longer.

“I know some of the guards working there!”

“Hum?”

“Working in the dungeons. I used to bring them food and water since they were working in the underground all days.” Veronica smiled, showing her whited tooth and Betty understood why so many people were finding her pretty. “So, what’s his name? Maybe I know him.”

“ _God, she’s so annoying… But I need her to show me the way to Kevin”_ “His name is… It’s…” Betty halted in front of a door and closed her eyes. “ _Damn what name do I tell her?”_

She reopened them when she felt a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, I’m sure we’ll find him, ok? Don’t worry. You’re not alone anymore.”

“ _I let her leading me to Kevin then I kill her.”_ Betty smiled and gently squeezed her hand on her shoulder. “Yes, thank you.” “ _At least she dropped the subject about my supposedly father.”_

Veronica opened the door and they came face to face with two other men laughing at each other. The men stopped and looked confusedly at the two women.

“What are you two doing here?” one of them said.

“Oh, I am so glad we finally found other survivors!” squealed Veronica with relief.

“Hey aren’t you the Maharaja’s daughter?”

“Oh now that you mention it, she looks like her.”

“Yes that’s me!” Proudly said Veronica as she took a step forward. However, she immediately felt a hand pulling her arms back and she found herself behind her blonde companion.

“Lili, what are you doing?” she questioned as Betty took an arrow in both of her hands and held them as if they were swords.

“Look at the tattoo on their arms. They’re from the Southsides Serpents, so they’re teaming up with Clifford.”

“Oh, beautiful and intelligent. Such a waste we’ll have to kill you.” The taller man of the two took out his sword and pointed Veronica “And you, you’ll follow me.”

Betty didn’t wait any longer and threw the first swing. The man dodged it easily before they launched themselves at the two women. Betty pushed Veronica out of the way and crunched down as a sword was swung over her head. She sank her arrows in the foot in front of her and heard a scream above her.

“ _Take that motherfucker”_

She stood up and jumped back, taking out her bow, and shot an arrow in the left arm of her aggressor. The man dropped his sword and grabbed his arm. Betty turned around and watched as Veronica jumped and grabbed the doorframe before she took a swing and kicked the man running toward her in the face. He fell backward on the ground.

“ _Not bad for such a tiny girl.”_ Thought the assassin.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Veronica screaming “Watch out!” and she felt a pain behind her head as she fell on the ground, her knees giving up. A hand roughly turned her body around and she was now facing the roof, her vision a little blurry from the hit.

“Let me go!”

Betty slowly lifted her head and saw Veronica being trapped in her aggressor’s arms. A hand pushed her shoulder back on the ground before a third man appeared above her and put his arms on her neck. Betty tried to hit him but it didn’t work, the man only tightened his grip on her neck.

“Die bitch!”

Betty reached for her waist with her hand and griped the dagger, trying to use its power like she did in Veronica’s room.  “ _C’mon.”_

She felt the handle becoming warmer as wind and sands suddenly came in contact with her cheeks. Sounds and colors slowly disappeared as everything became black and grey. However, instead of moving backwards like everything did when she first used it, everything seemed to freeze.

Betty didn’t waste any second and grabbed the man’s finger, loosened his grip on her neck and she crawled away from him. She coughed as air was suddenly filling her lungs again. She glanced up and saw Veronica, frozen in time, one hand extended in her direction as the man was holding her up from the ground. Her mouth was opened as if she was yelling something before Betty used the dagger.

Betty got up, took the sword on the ground and forcefully hit the man, who was about to kill her not long ago, behind the head with the sword’s handle. Sands started to dissipate as colors were starting to come back to normal. Slowly, Veronica’s mouth moved again, her eyes filled with fear. Sounds reached Betty’s ears again.

“NO!” yelled the black haired girl but instead of seeing the blonde girl choking, she was met with an unconscious man lying on the cold floor.

A hand lightly hit the man holding Veronica. “Wha-“ before the man could completely turned around, his nose was forcefully hit by a fist. The man dropped on the ground, unconscious, dropping Veronica at the same time. The shorter girl was about to fall but was caught just in time in Betty’s arms. Veronica lifted her head and looked at Betty’s green eyes.

“H-How did you…?”

Betty freed her and shrugged. “The man loosened his grip so I took this chance and got away.”

“Even so, how…” But Veronica shook her head and never finished her sentence “Whatever, I’m glad you’re OK.”

Betty smiled at her honesty. If it wasn’t from the fact she hated the girl since her childhood, she could actually consider being her “friend”. “Me too.”

“But I wonder how come these men weren’t killed by the sands?”

“Who knows, maybe it has something to do with that Blossom demon.”

“Maybe… Also, why aren’t you affected either?”

“Maybe it’s because I wasn’t in the castle when it all happened. I was coming back from my brother’s house when I saw the guard’s corpse at the entrance.”

“You were lucky.”

“I guess you could say that.”

“Well, now, let’s get to your father!” Veronica adjusted her bow on her shoulder and walked through the door. “You’re coming?” she asked when the blonde didn’t move.

“Yeah.” Betty followed her. “By the way, that was a nice kick you did back there.”

Veronica only smile proudly.

 

* * *

 

“ _Where are you Kevin? You better be OK.”_ Betty frankly looked everywhere, scanning each corpses lying on the ground.

“Oh no Phillip.” Veronica crunched in front of a dead man and, with shaky hands, closed his lifeless eyes.

Betty eyed the cells to her right. “ _Kevin._ ”

“Veronica, you go that way”, she suggested as she pointed to her left “and I’ll go that way” she finished pointing to her right.

“Okay.” Veronica nodded and was about to go but she stopped “But, how can I recognized your father if I don’t know what he looks like?”

“Oh… Caucasian man, long blond hair in a ponytail, about my height, a beard and a little scar on his upper lip.” Made up Betty to get rid of the Lodge heiress.

“Blond, tall, beard, scar… Okay.” And she was gone.

Betty ran toward the cells and inspected them one by one. They were mostly empty but a corpse was lying in the far corner of the walls in one of them.

“Kevin?” whispered Betty gripping the bars. “Kevin it’s me!”

The hand of the corpse slightly moved and Betty violently shook the door of the cells. The assassin looked behind her and saw some keys hanging from a guard’s waist. She quickly grabbed them and fiddled with them to open the door.

“Kevin!” She ran toward the corpse and dropped on the ground next to it, grabbing its shoulder and turning it around. She was now facing a young man with long brown hair and a long beard. A man who wasn’t Kevin.  However, the man didn’t seem alive. But then… How could his arm moved seconds ago? Just as she finished her thoughts, a rat got out of the handle of the man’s clothes and fled through on a hole next to them.

“Kevin?” murmured a voice behind her.

Betty turned around and her eyes met Veronica’s brown ones. “That’s my father’s name.”

“Why are you looking for him in the cells? Guards wouldn’t get themselves locked in a cell.”

“I don’t know, maybe he got scared when everybody died and fled in here.”

Veronica narrowed her eyes and scratched her head: “Anyway, he isn’t here. Let’s look in the kitchen. It isn’t too far from here and that’s where most of the guards went in between their shifts.”

 

* * *

Betty’s and Veronica’s stomach growled when they smelled the odours of fresh bread in the kitchen. The two women ran toward the plates filled with food and started to eat whatever they could eat.

“This is so good! I can’t remember the last time I ate” hummed Betty, her mouth full of chicken.

“Hum hum” answered Veronica chewing on some raspberries.

Surprisingly, the kitchen was free from bodies and only had a little bit of sands in it. The fire in the oven was still alive, spreading the good odours in the room.

Suddenly, a loud sound resonated in the room as Betty dropped her plate on the ground, her eyes glued on something in front of her and a gasped escaped her mouth.

“Lili ? Are you alright?”

“Oh my god.” Betty ran toward the other table : “I can’t believe there are still good things in this world!” squealed the blonde girl as she didn’t waste a moment and filled her mouth with Fruity Peebles. She closed her eyes and hummed. THIS was comforting. Exactly what she needed.

 The room became silent. Still munching the cereals, Betty opened her eyes and brought the plates to her mouth and made the cereals fell in it.

“Veronica, you should really taste this.”

Silence was her only answer.

“Veronica?” The blonde girl got the plate away from her face and was about to turn around when she saw the reflection of an object about to hit the back of her head through the plate. She quickly turned around and let her back fell on the table, knocking the foods on the ground and dodging the object in question which was the blade of a sword. A sword held by none other than Veronica.

“Wha—“  But Veronica lifted the blade above her head and pulled the sword down on Betty’s body. Betty just had the time to swing her legs above her head and rolled back on the other side of the table. She gripped its edge.

“What the fuck? What do you think you’re doing?”

Anger… No, rage was filling Veronica’s eyes. “IT’S YOU!”

“What?”

“YOU are the assassin who tried to kill me! YOU are the assassin who sank the dagger in the hourglass of time!” yelled Veronica as she ran around the table and swung her weapon. Betty jumped over the table and looked down at the other woman. “It wasn’t hard to find out. You are the same height as the assassin, you have the same eyes, your supposedly father is named Kevin and I know that Kevin was the name of the prisoner. You didn’t even know where the dungeons were and it’s near the laundry room where you supposedly worked. No maids EVER would call my Veronica, they always called me Milady. And, finally, those disgusting things you just ate were found in the place where the dagger of time was supposed to be. Oh and do I need to speak about your fighting skills which are similar to those of an assassin?”

“Wh—“

“Shut up! Do you really think I was this stupid and would not understand who you really were?”

Betty nodded and jumped off the table as Veronica swung her sword again in her direction. “ _Okay, maybe I shouldn’t insult her when she has a sword in her hand and when she is in killing mode.”_

“Give me the dagger! And don’t try to fooled me by saying you don’t have it. I know you used it to free yourself from the man and I know the dagger is the reason the sands of times didn’t drained the life out of your body. Give me the dagger so I’ll repair your mistake!”

“My mistake?!” Anger rose in the blonde girl as well.

“Yes, your mistake!”

Betty took out the dagger from her waistband: “I just wanted my sister back! My sister taken away from me because of you! I thought Clifford…”

“Well you should have known than to trust a Blossom!” Veronica kicked the chair in from of her away.

“Oh, so I should have trusted you instead?” sarcastically laughed Betty.

“Yes! But instead you had to be a stubborn and stupid assassin who did nothing right in this world.” Betty gritted her tooth as she had heard those words so many times in her life by her father.

“Still better than being a spoiled bitch like you.”

“And now, that spoiled bitch will kill you!” Veronica lunged herself at Betty who didn’t had time to dodge it. Just as Veronica was about to cut Betty’s body in two, Betty used the dagger and reversed times. She watched, amazed, as Veronica body ran backward until it stopped.

\--- “And now that spoiled bitch will kill you!” Veronica lunged herself at Betty who dodged on her left and extended her leg so Veronica fell face first on the floor, the sword sliding on the ground a meter from her. Betty laughed out loud, knowing this would only frustrate more the black haired girl. She used the dagger again and again, each time watching Veronica fell face first on the ground, ungracefully. This view was satisfying.  

“Can’t run properly _Milady_?”

However, before Veronica could say something in return, strange noises were heard on the other side of the door before it was forcefully opened. A guard, walking strangely, entered the room. Its head was hanging low and it was trailing its sword behind him.

“Hey, you’re okay?” asked Betty as Veronica got up behind her.

“Huhg arg uh”

“What did he said?” Betty looked at Veronica, who shrugged, all hated and desires to kill each other disappearing for the moment.   “Hey you!”

The man continued to walk toward them. Betty took Veronica’s sword and took an offensive stance. She unconsciously pushed Veronica behind her as the girl gripped the back of her shirt in reflex.

“What’s wrong with him?” whispered a scared Veronica.

“I don’t know but stay away from him. I need you alive to get away from this nightmare.”

Veronica nodded. Even if she didn’t like the girl, she needed her fighting skill to survive this.

“Stop right there!” commanded Betty.

The man stopped and lifted its head. Both girls eyes’ widened in horror. Half the man’s face was disfigured as sands were spilling from the holes in its body and his eyes were now completely yellow.

“What the hell is that thing!”

“This, Lili, is what you did when you put the dagger in the hourglass. This is what the sands of time are doing to normal people.”

The monster in front of them swung his sword toward them. Betty blocked the attack with her sword but the strength of the impact threw her on the ground.

“Argh humhg”

Betty rolled on her right as the sword made contact where her body a moment ago. The blonde assassin was getting up when she heard Veronica’s scream behind her. Looking back, she saw three other monsters passing the door and walking toward her. Two of them were holding axes as the last one was holding a sword.

Betty took a kitchen knife and threw it in the face of the monster nearest Veronica. The monster only lifted its face toward her, the knife right between his eyes, and continued to walk toward the heiress.

“ _What the fuck are these things?”_

“Lili!” pleaded Veronica as she shot an arrow in another monster which didn’t seemed too bothered by it because it continued its walk.

“Humhg” Another monster appeared.

Betty took a step back; they were surrounded now.

“Lili! Use the dagger and reverse time before they all came in! We’ll be able to escape before they come in” shouted Veronica as she walked back, bow and arrow ready to shoot.

“Right!” Betty got the dagger and tightened her grip on it. The handle became warmer and sands started to rise. However, as soon as the sands rose, it dissipated in the air and the handle became cooler. “ _What?”_ Betty tightened her grip again and pressed the little button but the same things happened and time continued normally. “It doesn’t work!” Two monsters turned their attention on her. She now had three monsters walking toward her and Veronica still got two.

“It’s impossible!” Veronica shot an arrow in the monster’s knee and made him fall on the floor with a grunt “Its reservoir should be full since you put it in the hourglass!”

“Wait this thing has a reservoir? You mean its power isn’t unlimited?” Betty climbed on the table behind her.

“No! It needed to be filled with sands to work!” Veronica was stopped when her back hit the wall behind her. “Have you used its power since you put it in the hourglass?!”  

Betty jumped on another table to dodge the sword. “Maybe I use it a couple of times when you fell face first on the floor?” innocently said Betty even if adrenalin was filling her entire body.

“WHAT!? I can’t believe we’ll die because of your stupidity!”

Betty ignored her and jumped off the table and ran toward the corner opposed to Veronica and slide on the ground next to a pile of sands. She took her dagger and tried to find a hole to fill some sands in it. However she found none. Panicking, she took a handful of sands and dropped it on the dagger’s handle. Nothing happened.

“Hey stupid! Normal sands won’t do it! It needs sands of time!”

“What is this sand of time?!!!”

“It’s AHHHHHHHH!” A monster grabbed Veronica’s arm. “Let me go!”

Betty took her sword, took a deep breath, and threw it with all her strength in their direction. The blade cut the monster’s arm, freeing Veronica’s one.

Veronica took the swords and plunged it in the monster’s heart in front of her. It vacillated backward and the heiress took this occasion to move away from the corner. She reached for the door but stopped when she was about to get out of the room. She looked back and saw Betty, standing on the table with her dagger drown out in front of her, being surrounded by the monsters. A part of her was telling her to run away and let the girl get what she deserved. However, another part was also telling her she couldn’t do it and let her die. After all, she saved her when she threw her sword to free her. She also needed her and the dagger to make everything go back to normal.

“ _What should I do?_ ” thought Veronica with her heart beating like there was no tomorrow in her chest.


	7. An assassin is only a human after all

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! Here is the new chapter still fill with B &V! I know it took some time for them to intereact but I hope the last chapter make up for it! Oh and their relationship will get better within the next chapters!  
> Tell me if you like it :) It's always nice to have feedback!.

Veronica closed the door behind her and pushed a chair under its handle to keep anyone from entering the room. She pressed her forehead against the wall and sighed.

“ _That was close; I hope they won’t come after me._ ”

A cough behind her caught her attention.

“Hey, are you alright?” Veronica ran toward the other person in the room and crouched next to it. “Lili?”

The blonde woman lifted her head “Yeah…” She winced and grabbed her side “It could have been worst”. 

Veronica narrowed her eyes and grabbed Betty’s arm to put it away. Blood was on the blonde’s hand and was staining her white clothes. “Oh shit Lili…” She looked around the room and got up before she jogged toward the other side of the room. She came back with an expansive curtain and a bowl of water. She crouched again and cut the curtain to make a bandage. She dipped the other part of the curtains in the bowl then looked at Betty expectantly.

“Lift your shirt.”

Betty’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Come on, this wound need to get clean before it get infected.”  When Betty didn’t move, she continued “Don’t tell me you’re such a prude? I’m not asking you to strip in front of me, only to lift your shirt up a little.”

Betty reddened before she puffed and lifted her shirt like asked “I’m not prude…” The blonde turned her head away “I’m just not sure if I can trust you. It is really water in that bowl?”

Veronica laughed, shaking her head. “Yeah. Sure, after running back in that room filled with those monsters just to save you, I’ll try to empoisoned you.”

Betty smiled a little “Yeah, that was pretty awesome what you did back there. It was thoughtful of you to use the oil and the fire to –“

“Whoa, is Lili Reinhart, the super assassin, complimenting me?”

“Pfff, you wish I was --  Ish!” hissed Betty when Veronica put the drenched cloth against her sides.

“Oh sorry. Didn’t know you were such a crybaby.” Mocked Veronica. “Now let’s see your wo—“, her eyes wandered from Betty’s face to her toned and pale abs stained with blood. She stopped talking. “ _This looks like it hurts a lot.”_

“ _Milady_?”

Veronica shook her head and continued to clean the wound. “Call me Veronica. Milady doesn’t feel right coming from you.”

There was a silence then: “Then I guess you can call me Betty.”  

Veronica lifted her eyes and met Betty’s one. “What?”

“My name isn’t Lili. Actually it’s Elizabeth Cooper but everyone calls me Betty.”

Veronica nodded before she looked back down. “Okay then Lil- I mean Betty.” She dried the white skin and started to wrap the tissue around her waist. “But why are you telling me this?”

“Why not? I mean you just saved me from those monsters and since we’ll be working together I think we should call each other by our real name.”

Veronica finished her work and eyed the dagger on the other side of Betty’s waist. However, before she could do anything else, the blonde woman covered it with her arm. Veronica back off a little and crossed her arms, glaring.  “What makes you think I want to team up with you?”

Betty pulled her shirt down “Look little girl, there is only two issues in this situation. One; we team up and we find a way to the hourglass together or two; you try to snatch the dagger from me and I kill you. The choice is yours _princess_.”

“Give me the dagger and we’ll team up.”

Betty laughed as if Veronica just told her something insane. “Sorry, but it doesn’t work that way. I need that dagger to survive and you certainly don’t need it. How come you aren’t affected anyway?”

Veronica absently touched the pearls adorning the necklace around her neck. “Because of this necklace. My mother gave it to me when I was a child. It holds powers which protect me.”

“Right. Well that settles it. You don’t need the dagger!” Betty got up and adjusted her clothes before she took her weapons on the ground. “Now let’s get to the ballroom where the hourglass is waiting for us.”

Veronica grumbled but also stood up, took her bow and started to follow her… Friend? No, that wasn’t fitting. Her companion was better.

“Oh and Veronica?”

“What”

“Thank you.”

“Oh, don’t mind it. This was an old curtain. We didn’t use these anymore.”

“No… I mean… Yes, thank you for cleaning my wound but I was mostly thanking you for running back in that room back there to save me. You could have easily fled and left me but you didn’t.”

“Oh, well, it was the normal things to do, right?” Veronica massaged the back of her neck. This conversation was making her feel quite awkward since the woman who was trying to kill her earlier was now thanking her for saving her.

Betty suddenly turned around “This didn’t mean were friends though.”

“Pfff, as if I would want that” glared Veronica but she smiled when Betty turned her back toward her and continued her walk. Betty’s intervention was making things less awkward.

 

* * *

 

“So, where’s the shortest way to the ballroom?”

“What’s the point in telling you which rooms and corridors we should take if you can’t orient yourself? Just shut up and follow me,” sighed Veronica.

“Bitch” whispered a crossed arms Betty.

Veronica ignored her and slightly opened the door and took a peek outside to see if the path was cleared. She motioned at Betty to follow her.

“Do you think everybody in Riverdale was… Affected by the sands of time?”

Veronica shrugged “I don’t know to be honest. I hope not.” Veronica grabbed her necklace. “ _Archie, I need you to be alive.”_

Betty suddenly ran past her. “It’s here V! The ballroom!”

Veronica lifted her head up at the mention of the surname and followed her companion. They opened the door and entered the room hurriedly. However, as soon as they put a foot in the room, their smiles faltered when they came face to face with _nothing_.

“What the fuck?” Betty turned toward Veronica with a frown on her face. “Where is the hourglass!”

“Hey don’t yell at me! I don’t know. Clifford must have took it away”

Betty laugh bitterly “Yeah, because Clifford is strong enough to pull a fucking giant hourglass from one room to another by himself.”

Veronica ran toward the place where the hourglass was and put her hands on the marks on the ground. “Clifford’s minions must have moved it, look!”

Betty eyed the marks on the floor. “So there are still other people alive out there. I mean, Clifford can’t control those monsters no?”

Before Veronica could answer, the door they opened a minute ago closed with a loud _BANG_ , making the two women jumped. Footsteps were heard not long after.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t Veronica Lodge teaming up with… What a surprise, Elizabeth Cooper. Who would have thought you two would get along?”

“Were getting along as much as my fist likes to get along with your stupid face” Betty instinctively stood in front of Veronica with her sword drawn out in front of her. “What do you want Clayton?”

The dark skin man smiled arrogantly as Southsides Serpents surrounded them. He pointed his finger toward Betty “It’s simple, I want the dagger Betty.”

“And you need an army to get it? Why? Afraid I’ll kick your little ass if you were alone?”

Chuck’s smile faltered a little before it came back “We’ll see if you’ll still smile when I’ll take that dagger from you and put you in a cell for the rest of your miserable life. Clifford and I know exactly what we’ll do with you.”

“Oh shut up Chuck.”

“No, YOU shut up Veronica. It’s over now, you won’t tell me what to do anymore.” Chuck raged “Either you give me the dagger or I’ll kill you and I take it after.” Before any of the two women could say something, Chuck yelled at the Southside Serpents to kill them and to bring back the dagger.

“Stay back Ver—“ Started Betty but Veronica pushed past her and shot an arrow in the first man’s neck running toward them.

“Shut up B, I’m not a damsel in distress” She shot another arrow and a second man fell on the ground. “See? I can take care of myself.”

Betty smiled and swung her sword at the man in front of her.

 

* * *

 

“Shit, how many Southside Serpents followed Clifford here?” said an exasperated Betty as she kicked another member of the clan behind the knee.

“Too many.” Answered Veronica, out of breath. She reached behind her back to get an arrow but another hand grabbed hers roughly. She tried to move but the person behind her was keeping her in that position so she couldn’t move anymore.

“Don’t try to free yourself, it’s useless,” whispered Chuck in her ears. “Hey Cooper! Stop right there or I’ll kill this beautiful creature here.” The man put his sword under her neck.

Betty knocked another Southside Serpents unconscious and turned around, her chest moving rapidly due to her exhaustion. She saw Veronica being trapped by Chuck, mouthing “I’m sorry”.

“I’ll repeat this one last time Cooper; Drop your weapon _right now_.”

Betty lifted her sword in the air and opened her hand, letting the weapon fell on the ground. Someone kicked her behind the knees, making her dropped on the ground as hands grabbed her own and put them behind her back, tying them. “ _I’ll erase that smirk off your face soon enough Clayton,_ ” thought Betty as a Southside Serpent lifted her by the collar so she was on her knees.

“You’ll regret this Chuck, you traitor” spat Veronica, trying unsuccessfully to free herself. Chuck only squeezed her hand more, smirking when he heard her whining.

“Shhh Veronica,” Chuck put his sword in his sheath and caressed her cheek “I’m the one giving orders now.” He turned his attention toward Betty “Now take that dagger from her”.

“Don’t touch me!” growled Betty as a man was palpating her waist, taking the dagger. She wanted to fight back put two other men were maintaining her in place.

Chuck’s eyes shined when they landed on the dagger. He roughly pushed Veronica on the ground and walked toward them, his hand extended in front of him. The other man immediately gave him the weapon.

“That dagger… If what Clifford said is true then we’ll rule these lands… And even more!” Chuck turned around and put the dagger on his waistband.

“This isn’t over Clayton!” spat Betty, wiggling to free herself.

Chuck laughed “You’re right Cooper, it isn’t over for me.  Sadly, I can’t say the same about you”, He turned around and drew his sword out.

“No!” yelled Veronica wishing Chuck hadn’t threw her bow away when he grabbed her earlier.

Just as Chuck’s sword was about to hit Betty’s chest, shattered glasses fell from above and a figure interposed itself between them.

“What—“ The figure hit Chuck’s side with its sword and kicked him in the chest. The man fell on his back and the dagger was thrown away from him on the ground.

The silhouette turned around and easily killed the two men grabbing Betty. Betty’s eyes widened when she recognized its blond hair and its face. “ _Mom?!”_

Alice cut the ropes in Betty’s back and crouched in front of her, taking her daughter’s face in her hands. “Oh Betty, are you alright?” Alice’s eyes softened when they locked with Betty’s one.

“Mom?! What are you doing here?”

“I saw the sandstorm taking over the castle and I knew you were here. I couldn’t leave you there alone.”

“Mom I… Thank you.”

The two women heard Chuck groaned not too far from them. The other members of the Southsides Serpent drew their swords out. Betty took a sword on the ground and stood up as Veronica was still on the ground, looking at the scene in front of her.

“Let’s finish this,” said Betty as she took the dagger on the ground and took an offensive stance. With her mother and Veronica by her side, they could do this.

“Elizabeth…” Weakly whispered Alice and Betty immediately knew something was wrong. She spun around just as her mother gripped her stomach and fell on the ground. She caught her in her arms before she hit the floor.

“Mom? Mom, what’s wrong?”

Alice took her hand out and Betty’s eyes widened when she saw it was covered in blood. “Sorry, I… I wasn’t fast enough to block his sword.” Alice fell on her knees, still in Betty’s arms. “It was either me getting hit or it was you.”

“No, mom. You’re gonna be alright OK?” Betty pushed some hair out of her mother’s pained face.

Alice coughed “I’m sorry Elizabeth… I’m sorry I was so harsh with you… We—I want you to know…” She coughed again, her voice weakening by the seconds “I want you to know I always was proud of you…”

“No! No, no, no, no… Shhh… Don’t say anything and keep your strength.” Betty’s eyes were starting to sting as her vision was starting to get blurry.

Alice smiled “Never forget I – I love you Elizabeth… I always have…”

Before Betty could tell her she loved her too, Alice’s head went limb as well as her body. Betty shook her body but her mother didn’t move. “Mom?” She shook her again. “Mom, I… I love you too” She hugged her tightly as tears were now invading her cheeks.   “Don’t leave me mom please…”

Veronica watched, heartbroken, as her new companion was sobbing in her mother’s neck. The other Southsides Serpents were also watching the scene, but none of them was moving. That’s when Veronica recalled a moment when her father told her about a certain Alice, a woman having an affair with a high ranked man in the Southside Serpent, who suddenly left the clan and disappeared into thin air. Other rumours were also mentioned she started her squad of assassin. Veronica guessed, as everybody was frozen and looking at the sobbing blonde, that both the rumours were true. She also guessed the Alice her father told her about was none other than Betty’s mother. Maybe that’s why the men weren’t attacking right now.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Angrily yelled Chuck as he got up on his knees with a hand on his side. When nobody moved, he got even angrier “KILL HER!”

The men seemed to snap out of their trance and sprinted towards Betty, weapons drawn. Betty stopped sobering and gently laid her mother’s body on the ground and closed her eyes with her hand. A man lifted his sword above her head.

“Watch o –“ Veronica wanted to warn her, but she hadn’t had time to finish her sentence that Betty had already sink her sword in the man’s body.

Betty stood up and charged the closest man to her, sinking her sword through his heart, looking right in his eyes when she slowly pushed the sword even further in it. She kicked his body and turned toward the next man. In the next minutes, men after men were falling lifelessly on the ground.

Veronica, frozen, watched as Betty was tirelessly swinging her sword in the Southsides Serpents bodies. Sure the men were sometimes slicing her skin with the tip of their sword but the blonde girl never flinched, not even once.

Veronica also saw Chuck painfully getting on his feet before he dashed toward the exit silently. “ _Coward_ ” she thought, but a voice caught her attention.

“Please… I-I’m sorry!” pleaded a man in his mid-forty as he dropped his sword. “Please don’t hurt me.”

Betty had her back toward Veronica when she stopped and dropped her sword on the ground.

“Thank you!” said the man as he dropped on his knees. “Thank you so much –“

Betty suddenly jumped on him, took out her dagger and hit him repeatedly in the chest. Veronica watched, horrified, as blood was gradually staining Betty’s body. The man screams had long stopped as life had left its body. However, the blonde woman never stopped hitting him savagely.

Veronica stood up. “Betty?” But her companion didn’t listen to her. “Betty stop!”

Betty stopped, her chest rising up and down with each puff of air she was taking. She got up on her feet, blood dripping from the dagger and her hand. She slowly turned around to face Veronica.

“Betty?” tried Veronica as she took a step back. “ _What happened to her?”_ Betty’s face owned a scowl and her eyes… They weren’t the same anymore. Her pupils were so dilated that her eyes were looking black and the softness had completely left them. Only hate and rage were filling them. It was like the woman in front of her wasn’t Betty Cooper anymore.

“Betty?” she tried again as the woman took a step toward her, fear suddenly invading her body. “Are you alright?”

“Bett –“

“Stop calling me Betty!” growled the blonde woman as she continued to walk toward her. “She isn’t available for the moment.”

Veronica narrowed her eyes.

“Knock knock” said _Betty_ as she wiped the dagger on her already stained clothes.

“What?”

“I said knock knock” repeated the woman.

Veronica was taking a step back each time Betty was taking one toward her. Right now her aura seemed dangerous, Veronica could even say psychotic. “Who’s there?” She tried.

“Certainly not Betty”

Veronica carefully got around a corpse on the ground, her eyes never leaving the other figure. “Who then?”

“Knock knock” repeated the assassin.

“… Who’s there?” whispered the heiress.

“The woman who will now kill you bitch.” Betty, or whoever was this person, dashed toward Veronica.

Veronica took the last arrow of her quiver and sank it in Betty’s thigh. Betty only looked down and got the arrow out of her skin, blood sticking out of the wound. A smiled made its way on her face.

“Oh, a spicy latina? I like that” Said _Betty_ as she lifted her hands to her mouth and licked the blood on it.

“Betty come back!” pleaded Veronica.

“How many times do I need to tell you Betty isn’t here!” snapped the blonde woman.

 _Trrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr_ the new sound got the two women’s attention. Looking past _Betty,_ Veronica gasped when she recognized the Southside Serpents corpses walking toward them, swords trailing behind them. Sands were spilling from holes adorning their bodies and their eyes were yellow just like the monsters they saw earlier.

Before Veronica could say anything, Betty took her arm and roughly pulled her toward her and swung her dagger. Veronica turned her head and saw a monster’s head falling on the ground.

“I won’t let you kill MY prey” spat Betty before she spun around and charged the other monsters, killing them one after the other easily. Veronica watched as the dagger seemed to instantly kill the monsters as their normal weapons seemed to do little damages to them.

 “Argh”

“And another one!” Betty turned around and was about to strike when she came face to face with her mother… Or what was once her mother.  Her mother who now had the same appearance as the other monsters. The blonde woman froze and took a step back.

Alice corpse lifted its sword and was about to hit her when Betty grabbed her dagger with both hands and sank it directly in the heart. The monster fell on its back, Betty above it and the blade still in its body, and exhaled one last time. Lights emanated from the blade as the sands inside Alice’s body seemed to get absorbed by it. When the lights disappeared, the glowing sands were now flying inside the dagger’s handle. Betty took out the blade and dropped the weapon on the ground. With shaky hands and shaky breath, she lightly caressed her mother’s cheek before she dropped her head on her chest, gripping her clothes.

“I’m sorry mom… I’m so sorry…” she sobbed.

Veronica tentatively took steps toward her. “Betty?” she wanted to say but she refrained herself when she saw the other girl’s body shaking uncontrollably above her mother’s dead body.

“I’m sorry…” Betty kept sobbing these words over and over again.

Veronica eyed the dagger on the ground next to Betty then eyed Betty. Taking a shaky breath, she sprinted toward her companion, all fear disappearing from her body. When she got next to her, Veronica slowly crouched down and slowly took Betty’s hands in her own so the other would detached herself from the body. Betty weakly lifted her head and locked eyes with Veronica. Veronica felt her eyes watering when she saw the pained expression and the tears flowing freely on the assassin’s cheek. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying so much. This was the first time Veronica was seeing weakness from Betty. A weakness she now wished she wouldn’t have to see.

How could life be so cruel to force a daughter to watch her mother getting killed right in front of her then forcing her to kill her possessed body just minutes after? Without words, she put her arms around Betty’s neck and pulled the other girl’s toward her. Betty didn’t resist and hid her face in her neck, sobbing harder as her hands wrapped around Veronica and gripped her clothes. The heiress softly put her head on the blonde’s one and tightened her grip, trying to comfort her as much as she could.

At this moment, Veronica didn’t even thought about the dagger which lay on the ground next to them. She didn’t thought about Betty psychotic episode and attempt to kill her minutes ago. For the first time she didn’t thought about Archie and how much she wanted to find him. Right now, her only thoughts were to comfort the woman in her arms and to take her pain away.


	8. Choices are made

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the new chapter! I hope you'll like it! I work hard on it!

“ _Hey Betty! Look at what I found in the forest this morning,” a little Polly of seven years old whispered at her little sister._

_Betty lifted her head and saw her sister in front of her with a blanket in her hands. “What is it Polly?”_

_The blanket suddenly moved. “Wouah Polly! It moved!”_

_Polly crouched and motioned at Betty to come closer. “Come Betty”_

_Little Betty cautiously walked toward her sister as Polly lifted the blanket to show a little cat with caramel furred._

_“Oh Polly! It’s a cat!” a gigantic smiled adorned Betty’s face as she squealed with excitement._

_“Yep! Do you want to hold it?”_

_“I can?”_

_Polly nodded “Open your arms” and when Betty did so. Polly carefully put the little kitten in them. Betty’s eyes shined with joy and excitement as the animal purred with happiness._

_“Girls! Diner is ready!” came a voice from the other side of the door._

_“Quick Betty! Hide the cat before mom sees it!” hurried Polly as she tried to put the kitten back into the covers but the animal wiggled its way out of it. “Betty quick the kitten!”_

_Alice, clothed with her old and dirty apron, opened the door “Didn’t you hear me girls?”_

_Her two daughters stiffened and nodded nervously. Alice narrowed her eyes, she knew that look : “Okay, what did you two do this times?”_

_“Nothing!” answered the two blondes’ girl and the blanket Betty “hid” inside her shirt mewed._

_Alice put her hands on her hips “What are you hiding Betty?”_

_Betty guiltily glanced at her sister before she got the kitten out from her shirt “Caramel?”_

_“Betty, Polly, you know your father doesn’t want any cat or dog inside our house.”_

_“But it was all alone in the street mom! And Betty already named it Caramel,” whined Polly as she gripped her mom’s apron._

_Alice sighed and massaged the back of her neck with her hand “Okay girls, we’ll keep this cat for tonight because it seems like a storm is coming this way.”_

_“YAY!”_

_“BUT, we’ll return him in the streets tomorrow.”_

_“Yes! We love you mom!” The two girls ran inside their little house, the cat still wrapped in the blanket. Alice watched them with a smile on her face._

_In the end, they kept the cat._

_­_ ….

Betty opened her eyes and blinked a couple of times to let her vision adjust itself with the darkness reigning in the room she was currently in. She turned her head and looked toward the closed door, sighing when she didn’t saw any lights in the door bottom.

“ _It must still be the night”_ Betty tried to stretch her arms over her head but the wall blocked her “ _Damn, this room is so small and the floor isn’t really comfortable…”_

Just like the two other nights since “Betty little accident” [read : Betty putting Riverdale in an apocalypse state], the girls found a little room in the castle with only one door and locked themselves in it to try and get some sleep.

“ _Well, trying is the right word_ ” thought Betty as she tried to roll over but she bumped in the body next to her and stopped, staying on her back.  “ _I wish we had found something a little bit more spacious than this closet…”_ At least there was only one place where the enemies could enter the room so they would immediately wake up if somebody tried to enter it.

A light snore caught her attention “ _Well, someone here sure don’t mind the lack of space and the hard floor”_. Betty turned her head on her right and recognized Veronica’s silhouette with her back facing her, her dark cloak covering most of her body.

Betty sighed again and stared at the roof “ _It seems like were running in circle. If we don’t cross Southsides Serpents on our way it’s those monsters. Those monsters create by me…”_

The blonde girl closed her eyes and tried to sleep; knowing tomorrow would be another exhausting day. She suddenly shivered when a breeze got through the door bottom. “ _Damn it, I should have kept that cloak I had when I first came here.”_

She tried to move to find a better position to keep her warmth but failed because of the lack of space and the fact she didn’t want to wake the other girl next to her. She shivered again.

“ _So nice –“_ Her sarcastic thoughts were interrupted when Veronica grumbled something in her sleep and turned around so she was facing now Betty. Betty’s breath hitched when she felt one of Veronica’s arms wrapping itself around her right arms as the other wrapped itself around her waist, bringing her closer to the dark haired girl. Veronica’s cloak was now covering the both of them, keeping their common warmth inside. The Latina girl tightened her grip and brought her blonde friend closer to her when Betty tried to put some distance between them. The blonde’s heart was going rampage inside her chest.

“ _Well… This is awkward…”_ Veronica unconsciously brought her face in Betty’s neck, her breath warming the other woman’s neck. As much as a part of Betty wanted to wake the other girl so they could get back to their original place, another part was also telling her to let her be and to enjoy this new warmth. Moreover, having another human close by, another human who wasn’t trying to kill her, was comforting somehow. That’s why Betty used her free hand to cover Veronica’s shoulder with her cloak and dropped on head on the shorter girl’s one.

At least she wasn’t freezing anymore…  

 

 

* * *

“Veronica, what are we doing here exactly?” mumbled Betty as she crossed her arms “I’m pretty sure this flowers garden isn’t where we need to go.”

“C’mon B, one little detour won’t hurt us.” Veronica pushed a bush away and squealed in excitement when she came face to face with giant fountain.

“A fountain? Really?”

Veronica dipped her hands in the water and hummed “We have been running, sweating and fighting for our lives for the last 5 days. I think we deserved a little rest.”

“We don’t have time for this _Ronnie_ ”

“Okay, I shouldn’t have told you the nickname my family and closest friends called me. Anyway…” Veronica dropped her bow and detached her cloak before she let it fall on the grass under her bare feet.

“W-What are you doing?” shuttered Betty as the shorter girl started to lift her purple shirt over her head. “Now isn’t the time to have some fun!”

“Seriously B, like I said; a little break won’t hurt us. In fact I think it is a necessity right now.  It’s been what, nearly a week since we last bathed?  Seriously girl, you stink right now.”

Betty discreetly sniffed herself when Veronica turned her back toward her to drop her pants. “ _It’s not that bad… I mean, it could’ve been better but with these circumstances it’s pretty acceptable…”_

“What are you waiting for B?”

“Ehhhh!” Betty jumped when she realised she was now face to face with the shorter girl who had walked toward her when she was in her thoughts. The shorter girl who was now only cladded in her lacy black underwear. Slowly her eyes roamed down Veronica’s body, inspecting rapidly each of her curves before she brought them back up to the other girl’s face. Said girl who was now smirking back at her.

“Like what you see huh ?” she teased with a wink.

Betty turned her head to the side, feeling her reddened face burning up even more.

“Seriously V, put some clothes on. We are in the middle of the courtyard of the castle and anybody can see us.”

“Aw Elizabeth, stop being such a prude.” The heiress rolled her eyes as she lightly took the other girl’s hand. “The fountain is surrounded by shrubs, it’s safe” Betty felt her hand being tugged forward. “Moreover, your smell starts to get unpleasant at night when we sleep.”

“Well maybe you wouldn’t be bothered by my smell if you stopped cuddling me like a teddy bear at night.” Growled the blonde girl and Veronica laughed, untying Betty’s sword from her waist.

“I never heard you complaint about it,” Betty opened her mouth to say something in return but she closed it instead. “It keeps us warm with these chilly nights. Besides, we both know were only doing this until we found our respective boyfriend.” Veronica unbuttoned Betty’s shirt as she walked backward in the fountain, humming with satisfaction when the cool water touched her feet.

“… Boyfriend?” Betty let herself get pull forward.

“Yeah,” Veronica dropped her hands and walked further back in the water. “We simply use each other company until we find my Archiekins” Betty’s heart hurt when she heard his nickname “And until you find that Jughead of yours.”

“Jug – Wait, what?”

“Aw c’mon B, the mysterious boy with jet black hairs you know since you are a child. You know, the one you told me you were dating since you were fifteen.” Veronica bent her head on the side.

“ _Ahh yes, I told her I was going out with Juggie when she kept harassing me about my love life,”_ recalled the blonde girl as she nervously put her hand on the back of her neck. “ _I lied to her so I wouldn’t have to tell her about Archie…”_

“Yes, you’re right. I can’t wait to find him.” Betty never forced a smile on her face like she did at this moment.

“I’m sure if you meet Archie one day you’ll like him. But let’s make this clear, he’s taken OK?”

Betty heard a _splash_ and lifted her head to see that Veronica was now kneeling in the water, taking water in her head and splashing her face with it. “ _With what happened these past few days I forgot why I hated this girl so much at first. The more I learnt about her and the more I found I was mostly wrong about her. Her presence is quite refreshing. But I wonder, what will happen when everything will get back to normal?”_

Water splashed on Betty’s face and, before she could react, two hands grabbed hers and pulled her downward. She tripped on the edge of the fountain and fell face first in the water. A crystal laughed filled her ears.

“Betty, seriously, stopped zooning out. You were the one complaining about losing time yet you are the one taking your sweet time instead of washing yourself.”

Betty kneeled and unleashed her hair from its ponytail, relief washing over her body when the tension on her head disappeared. “If you stopped talking once in a while maybe I could concentrate on washing myself. It’s not a surprise you didn’t marry any man since today with that mouth of yours.” She teased.

Before she could react, Veronica jumped on her, making her fell on her back, water splashing everywhere. Fortunately, the water level wasn’t high near the edge of the fountain so her face was out of the water. The shorter girl was straddling her and had pinned her arms above her head. Betty could feel the water flowing through her hair. Her eyes followed a drop of water running on Veronica left cheek to her neck, her collarbone then disappearing in the valley between her breast, behind her underwear. Betty stopped fidgeting to free herself and continued to stare at the tan skinned woman above her.

“Care to repeat what you just said Miss assassin?” Veronica’s eyes softened when Betty didn’t answered “Hey Betty, what do you think will happen when everything will get back to normal?” Veronica voiced out Betty’s earlier thoughts. “Do you think we will still see each other or we’ll become enemies again?”

 Betty smiled “Who knows what will happen then. For the moment, let’s just be B & V, trying to survive this nightmare.”

Veronica smiled back, satisfied with the answer. Her eyes flicked toward Betty’s torso, where her unbuttoned shirt was showing a little bit of her white skin. Slowly, she freed the taller girl’s hands and brushed open the shirt to expose more skin. Her eyes widened and softly, she brushed the tips of her fingers on some of the numerous scars adorning the other girl’s skin. Veronica felt her heart arched when she recognized the healing wound Betty got a couple of days ago as well as oldest scars which must had really hurt when she got them.

Betty’s breath itched when the heiress touched her newest wound.

“These wounds… So many… How…”

Betty looked to her side, suddenly embarrassed. She pushed herself into a sitting position and pushed Veronica off of her. “What can I say, I didn’t have the chance to have maids to get me what I wanted or parents who gave me whatever I asked for. Life in Riverdale, outside the castle isn’t a fairy tail. Some of us had fight in order to survive.”

 “Betty that’s not what I wanted to –“ Veronica stretched her hand toward Betty but the other girl smacked her hand away. Veronica fell backward on her butt as Betty turned around and took off her already soaked shirt and pants.

“We better wash ourselves now. We lost enough time already.” 

Veronica eyed Betty’s back, also covered with scars, as the blonde girl was quickly washing her skin as much as she could. “ _Oh Betty…”_ Veronica mentally scowled herself for making Betty pushed her away. Things were getting great between them and she had to mess everything. Sadly, she dipped her hands in the water and washed herself.

The water didn’t felt so good suddenly.

 

* * *

Betty stared at the scars adorning her side and sighed as Veronica’s flawless skin flashed in her head. “ _No wonder Archie choses her…”_ She buttoned her shirt and grimaced when she realized her clothes weren’t dried. “ _Wow, could this day be anymore shitty than it already is?”_

Betty heard Veronica standing up and the water droplets falling down in the fountain. A flash of the water droplet falling down Veronica’s skin earlier made her breath hitched. When the heiress got out of the fountain, the assassin quickly bent down to take the dagger and her sword in her arms before she straightened up. “I’ll go check the surrounding while you’ll put your clothes back on. I’ll be back soon. Scream if you’re in trouble.”

“Betty wait –“ but the other woman was already gone. The Latina girl closed her eyes and made an angry noise with her mouth. “That woman! Good thing she went scouting the area. Finally I have some peace.”

Even if Veronica was angrily whispering these words, sadness filled her eyes as well as her heart. The silence of the place was stifling her. She immediately missed the assassin’s presence by her side.

 

* * *

Betty sighed and hung her head low: “Why did I react like this? Veronica must hate me right now.” She tightened her grip around the weapons still in her arms.

_Crack!_

“Who’s there?” She twirled around but saw nothing, only vegetation.   

_Crack … Crick!_

“Show yourself!”

A sudden pain in her leg made her dropped her weapons which disappeared under a bush full of Lilies. The assassin saw a black dot moved from the corner of her eyes. She crouched down and inspected her leg, eyeing the little line of blood now flowing on her skin.

“ _What the…?”_

_Crack… Crick… Crack…._

Betty stood up and was about to say something when her head started to spin. “W-what..” She smacked her hand on her forehead and blinked a couple of time to stabilize her vision but everything became blurrier. Sweats formed on her forehead and dropped on her face as her breath was becoming harsher.

Betty tried to move but her limbs weren’t responding anymore. “ _Veronica… I have to get to Veronica and tell her…”_ She fell on the grass, face first. She tried to lift her arms but nothing moved.

“Ve…Ro…”

“Well… Well… Well… What do we have here.” Two sandaled feet with perfectly bright red nails polish stepped in front of Betty’s face. Betty tried to lift her head but she didn’t have the strength anymore.  A tarantula moved in front of her and climbed on the legs attached to the sandals.

“Ni… Ca….”

Darkness surrounded Elizabeth Cooper.

 

* * *

Veronica step up from under the tree and smoothed her clothes. _“It’s been a while…Betty  should have come back already. Maybe I should look for her.”_

The heiress grabbed her belongings and borrowed the same path her friend took earlier.

“Betty?” Tried the Latina girl as she pushed a branch out of her way. “Cooper!” she tried again but no one answered her. “ _Where are you?”_

“Show yourself!” Veronica recognized the voice immediately. “ _Betty!”_ She ran toward the voice.

“Betty!” Veronica stopped, her chest raising and falling rapidly due to her sprint. “Betty, where are you?” The girl took a step forward … _Crack!_ … Glancing down, she saw a broken wooden branch on the grass as well as a red dot on a leaf.

“ _What?”_ She touched to substance and brought her finger near her face. Was it … Blood? Veronica gasped. Could it be Betty’s blood?

Just as Veronica was getting up, something hit her roughly behind her head, making her fell on the grass in pain.

“How sweet to see you again, Veronica.”

“ _Chuck…”_ Veronica fell unconscious.

 

* * *

“Did you really had to hit her head so hard?” annoyingly said a voice.

“Hey, you asked me to bring her here and I did it. Stop complaining.”

“Because of you we need to wait until she wakes up to continue.”

“And because of you we don’t have the dagger –“

“Enough you too!” came a third deep voice.

Veronica grumbled as consciousness was slowly coming back to her.

“Oh she’s waking up now.”

“Chuck and Cheryl, you two can leave now… I wish to have some time _alone_ with my wife.”

Approbation sounds were heard then a door was closed. Water was splashed over Veronica’s face, entirely waking the girl up.

“W-What? Betty?!”

A laughed resonated near her. “Betty? What? You two are friends now?”

“Blossom…” Veronica kneeled up and wanted to move further but chains stopped her. “What do you want?”

“Can’t a man wish to see his wife?”

“Were not married and we will never be Blossom.” Spat the shorter girl.

“Oh feisty. That’s one thing I like about you. You see Veronica.” Clifford crouched in front of her and took her hands. The girl tried to move away but the chains stopped her again. “Oh calm down _Ronnie_.”

“Don’t EVER call me like that again.”

“As you wish,” said Clifford as he put his hands in the air as a _Cling_ echoed in the room.

Veronica stared at her now free limbs. “Where are we?” She slowly got up, massaging her pained wrists. She scanned the room and didn’t recognize it. It was mostly dark and cells bars were surrounding them.

“Oh… I see… Daddy didn’t mention this room to you. You see, this is where your father was taking some people he wished to get information from. In other words, this was his torture room.”

Veronica gasped. She didn’t knew her father had this type of room and why had Clifford brought her here? Why hadn’t he kill her already?

“What is the meaning of this Blossom?”

Clifford took a step back and put his hands behind his back. “For once, Veronica, I want to give you a gift.”

“A gift? You?”

“Yes. Yes.”

Veronica arched a eyebrow.

“Today I am giving you the power to save a life.” Clifford lifted one finger in the air. “The power to stop a death from striking someone.” He snapped his fingers and torches ignited themselves on the other side of the room.

Veronica’s eyes scanned the cell made of glasses which was now lightened by the torches. She scanned the chains in the cell as well as the hands imprisoned in them… Veronica’s eyes widened and a scream escaped her mouth.

“ARCHIE!” She ran toward him but the bars of the cell she was currently in with Clifford stopped her. The heiress cried his name again as she passed an arm through the bars, trying to reach him even though it was impossible.

Her lover was unconscious, his body hanging by its tied hands on the walls behind him. The man had a long scratch on his cheek and his left eye was swollen. Archie moaned and the muscles in his arms contracted. He was slowly waking up.

“Free him!” raged Veronica as she turned around “And open this damn door!” she shook the door cell with all her strength but it wouldn’t move.

“Feisty as ever _Ronnie_. But don’t worry dear. After all, I promise you you would save a life didn’t I?” Clifford got keys out of his side pocket and he tended them toward her. “Here are the keys to open this door and to unlock the chains around his wrists.”

Clifford snapped his fingers again and sands started to fall on Archie’s head.

“But you must hurry Veronica.”

“Stop it Blossom!” pleaded Veronica even if anger was clearly showed on her face. “Give me the damn keys!”

“W-What?” a voice suddenly caught her attention.

“ARCHIE!”

“Veronica!” The man coughed as sands entered his mouth “What is happening? Why am I chained to a wall. Why is sands filling the cell?!” panic was clearly heard in his voice.

“Don’t worry Archie, I’m coming!!!” Veronica twirled around again. “Give me the damn keys Blossom!”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Where are your manners?”

Veronica closed her eyes, her heart beating roughly in her chest : “Could you give me the keys please Clifford?”

“There, was it so hard?”

Veronica glanced back and saw the sand was nearly reaching Archie’s knees now. She rudely grabbed the keys and turned toward the door, trying to find the right keys. Her hands were shaking as adrenalin and fear was filling her body.

“ _Damn it!”_

A cough caught her attention. “I could give you a hint on which key is the good one.”

“WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!”

“But before –“

“I don’t have the time for your crap Clifford!”

The man shrugged “As you wish. The right key is the one with black stripes on it.” Veronica looked for the right keys as the man continued to talk. “You know _Ronnie_ , I heard you always complained about how your father made every decision in your life. Complained about how much you wished you could make you own decision for once.”

 _Click_ the door was unlocked. Veronica ran toward Archie and hit the glass with her fists, screaming his name.

“Archie! Don’t worry I’m right here. I’m going to save you!”

“Ronnie, I’m stuck…” The man tried to move but the chains stopped him again. The sand was slowly reaching his hips.

“Which keys Clifford? Please!?”

“Oh _Ronnie_ , because I am such a good husband, I am giving you the power to choose today.”

“The key Blossom!”

“Your voice when you’re angry is kind of a turn on you know?” The girl took a menacing step toward him “Okay, okay… To untie him you’ll need to climb this wall and open the trap from above. The blue key is the right one. After that, you’ll need the red key to unlock the right chain on his wrist and the black key to unlock the left chain.”

Veronica was about to climb the wall when Clifford cleared his throat. “However, before you do that, there is something I need to tell you.”

“I don’t have time for your shits Clifford.” She jumped and gripped the first bricks. “ _Damn it where is Betty and the dagger when I need them!”_

Clifford snapped his fingers again and another torch ignited on their left, illuminating another cell made of glass as sands were also rapidly filling it.

“T-That hurt… W-Where am I?” groaned a voice from inside the cell.

Veronica gasped and she loosened her grips, falling on her butt on the ground. She quickly jumped on her feet and watched, in horror, as Betty was also chained on a wall just like Archie. The blonde assassin regained consciousness and panicked when she saw the sands.

“W-What?!” She eyed Veronica “Veronica! Hurry up! I’m stuck! I can’t move!” The girl frankly pulled on the chains but it wouldn’t move. She tried to move her legs but they were stuck in the sands.

Veronica turned toward Clifford “What is the meaning of this?! You told me –“

“I told you I was giving you the possibility to save a life Veronica. This is exactly what I am doing. I am giving you the possibility to choose which life you’ll save. Your lover; Archie’s one or Elizabeth’s one, your new friend who was your enemies not so long ago.”

Veronica took a step back, tears slowly forming in her eyes “No…” She couldn’t choose.

“Yes Veronica. You always complained about the fact you were never given a word in the decisions made in your life. I am giving you this chance right now.”

“Please Clifford…” Veronica’s plead was said in a little voice.

“You know, never having a word to say in decisions can be frustrating but, at least, you have no responsibilities in the outcomes it create. Making choices is nice but you have to live with the consequences Veronica. You’re about to learn that lesson.”

“Veronica!” / “Ronnie!”  the sands was now reaching their torso.

Veronica felt the tears sliding on her cheeks. Clifford squeezed her shoulders. “Tick Tock Veronica. If you hurry enough you’ll be able to save one. Unfortunately you’ll have to say goodbye to the other.”

“Don’t touch her with your dirty hands Blossom! I’m going to kill you!” Betty was fighting with all her strength to free herself and reach Veronica.

“I’ll worry more about yourself Elizabeth, if I was you.” Betty stopped fighting, trying to catch her breath. “I’m sorry to say this but I think you are currently living the last minutes of your existence.” Clifford pointed behind him and Betty saw Archie, in the same position as her.

“ _I told you I was giving you the possibility to save a life Veronica_ ” Clifford’s words echoed in Betty’s head.

“ _So she can only save one person…”_

“Remember Veronica –“ Veronica turned around and threw her fist at him screaming “Shut up!” . The man disintegrated himself in sands the moment her fist made contact with his body.

“Remember : blue for the door, red for right and black for left… Tick tock Veronica…” his voice faded away. “Tick tock…”

“Veronica?” / “Ronnie, help!”

Veronica gripped her head as thoughts were running in her head. “ _What was she supposed to do?! If she saves Archie, she kills Betty and vice versa.”_ She was trying again and again to find a scenario where everybody would live but it seemed impossible. The heiress sobbed and ran toward a cell. She needed to move so she could at least save one person. She’ll have to let the other person die.

Elizabeth Cooper watched sadly as Veronica ran toward Archie’s cell, screaming his name. The assassin suddenly stopped fighting for good, letting the sands slowly swallowing her head.  Betty felt a lonely tear escaping her eyes as the fear of dying took over her for the first time in her life. She didn’t want to die. She was too young… She was… Afraid of dying.

“ _Who am I kidding… Veronica would never choose me over him… I’m an assassin; I tried to kill her after all… I’m responsible for all this… Maybe, I deserve to die”_ the sands blocked her vision and the blonde’s lungs hurt when air didn’t filled them anymore. Her head started to spin. Yes, she deserved to die.

As she closed her eyes for the last time, her thoughts moved from Polly to Alice and then to Jughead. Finally, her last thought before everything became dark was the image of a giggling and a soaked Veronica straddling her in the fountain earlier. Then everything disappeared : sounds, pain, feeling…

 

* * *

 _“What’s this?”_ Something soft touched her body and something was pushed in it. “ _Soft, so soft…”_ Suddenly something hard caused pain in a lower part of her body.

“Cmgsdjhh” interferences were making it hard to distinct the words.

 Then the soft texture returned, then the hard pain, then the soft texture, etc…

 “ _What…?”_

 _“_ Open your eyes please!” came a voice from above.

The soft texture returned on her body and, suddenly, pain filled her lungs and she coughed all the sands she had in them. A hand turned her body so she was now facing the floor as she continued to cough like there was no tomorrow.

 _Cough-Cough_ “W-What” _Cough-Cough-Cough_

Betty opened her eyes and saw the dirty floor in front of her. She gripped her soaring throat and glanced up, searching her breath. Veronica was kneeling next to her, an incredulous look on her face. The shorter girl reached a hand toward Betty and shakily brushed her cheek.

“You’re… Alive…” Betty heard the relief in her voice but also the pain in it.

“Veronica? W-What happened?” Betty closed her eyes and everything came back to her before the shorter girl could answer her.. “Veronica” _Cough_ “Where-where is Archie?”

Veronica stared at her blankly. Her face was dirty from the sand and the tears and her hair was a mess. Her body suddenly started shaking but her eyes were still emptied from any emtions.

“V …” Betty was about to take her shoulders when the dark haired girl shakily pointed a finger on her left. Betty followed it and gasped when she saw Archie’s cell filled with sands and the trap on its top still closed as the one above her cell was opened. Did that mean…

“Veronica? But… How…? Why…?” Betty was at loss of words. It was impossible. Veronica would never choose her over _him_. That didn’t make any sense…

Veronica words filled the room and Betty’s heart missed a beat: “I killed him…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for your kudos and your comments! Honestly that's my motivation for writing even when I'm tired :) 
> 
> I hope you


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